


Bamboo

by Bearit



Category: Jade Empire
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Death, Gen, Minor Canonical Character(s), Original Character(s), Wordcount: 30.000-50.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-01
Updated: 2009-11-30
Packaged: 2017-10-16 04:10:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 43,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/168265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bearit/pseuds/Bearit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the fall of Two Rivers, Kia Min embarked on a journey that would lead her to becoming a prominent member of the Guild. This is the story of that journey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for LJ's Sci-Fi Big Bang challenge between July 2009 and October 2009. Special thanks to Yappichick for beta'ing!

This was the first time Kia Min had ever seen the Imperial Palace.

She knew that the Guild Leader kept many places at his main base of operations to avoid suspicion and to keep from being cornered by disgruntled slavers and their customers. He often kept his "right hands" stationed at select locations depending on where the interests of the Guild lie. They rotated seasons at a time, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, until their mission in that area was accomplished. But there was one place she never once considered, despite the rumors flitting about the Empire and among the Guild members, one place she never once suspected.

And so, when the flyer the Guild Leader had sent for her took port in the floating palace above the Imperial City, she grabbed her staff and prepared to fight her way out of an arrest. Being one of the Guild's top agents was tricky and dirty business, even if they were helping to restore the Jade Empire to its former glory. Often in busier cities she would spot scrolls requesting the arrest of any of the leaders of the Guild. This was usually by the mandate of the city's leader, and not by imperial decree, and the descriptions of the culprits were very vague.

The pilot of her flyer laughed when he saw her grab her staff as he turned off the machinery. "Min," he said, "I know your skill with the staff made of bamboo is legendary, but it is no match against the Lotus Monks."

"Are you so sure about that? The tales are true, you know. I have killed Lotus Monks with this staff, when they were known as Lotus Assassins." She left out the part where she had nearly died when she was only one against many of them. Besides, that was for lack of skill at the time-not because her weapon was made out of bamboo.

The pilot shrugged. "Well, you can leave it behind, anyway. The Guild Leader will be here to meet you shortly." He paused. "But I get the feeling you won't. Leave your staff behind, that is."

"Of course not," she hissed as she opened the door to the flyer carefully. "You brought me to the Imperial Palace. Why would the Empress shelter the head of the Guild?"

"Maybe because," said the pilot, "she's sanctioning it. Oh look, here is the illustrious Guild Leader now. Good luck, Min. I'll be here when you're done."

She peeked out the flyer and saw the man in question approach, his hair pulled into a topknot for the first time since their meeting in the alleyway those years ago after she chased him down. He was not wearing his Guildsman black outfit, either; his attire was the same blue robes with white wispy clouds he wore at that meeting as well. She frowned. What was going on?

Kia Min hopped out of the flyer with her staff in hand. "You should have told me to dress more appropriately for visiting the palace," she chided.

"What, and risk you not coming because of the fear it'd be a trap?" he said, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Come. We have much to discuss, and in private."

He led her through the large doors, and she followed a few paces behind. Her eyes wildly scanned the halls of the palace, catching sight of nobles in brightly colored silks and servants in earthly shades of cotton bustling about. The Guild Leader had a condition for when Guilders visited him: not to wear anything or look like anybody who may be a member of the spiteful syndicate. She was happy that he had done so; at least nobody looked at her with anymore than scorn. No suspicion, no spite, no fear.

They came to a modest office at the far end of the corridors, and he opened the door and ushered her in. The door clicked behind them, and she stood in place beside it while he walked over to scroll-covered desk.

"I have some good news for you," he said. "By the last Imperial report, we have successfully driven all of the slavers out of business, and most have been imprisoned. The others are identified, and the Lotus Monks and the Imperial Army are after them now."

"That is good news," she said slowly. She already knew that, but she knew she must be patient: this man was never to the point.

"What I wanted to accomplish with the Guild is done," he continued, "and so I feel it's time for me to retire. But I cannot disband the group. Most of what we have done was accomplished through... less than legal means. And we've gotten away with it. I'm not about to unleash an entire army of crooks upon the Empire. Sun Lian would have my head, son or no."

She took a moment to take everything in. "So it's true, that we are sanctioned by the Empress?"

He regarded for a moment, and then he chuckled. "It would look bad if she ever publicly admitted it, or even to the court, but, yes. And she ordered me not to tell anybody but my wife. Not even my most trusted confidant. That's why I never brought any of you here. But now that I'm retiring, the Empress is sure to forgive me this trespass.

"Kia Min," said Sky, "I want you to take my place as the Head of the Guild."


	2. Prologue

_  
**Five years earlier...**_

* * *

 _  
_

The first thing Kia Min felt when she slid away from sleep was that nothing was right.

Her eyes burned, and she rubbed them firmly once before forcing them open. The sun's rays shot past the hills and reflected a brilliant white light from the river below, causing her to nearly shut her eyes again. Her bamboo staff was nestled in her crossed arms and her head rested on the rough bark of the tree beside her.

She lifted her head, an ache creeping across her temple, and she tried to remember why she had come to the outlook so early she had fallen asleep waiting for Ni Joh. Or maybe she and stayed out here too late last evening. In that case, where was Joh, and was she in for a world of trouble! Could Si Pat be bribed into keeping his silence as he let her back into the school?

She stabbed her staff into the soft soil and slowly lifted herself to her feet. A drumming pain crawled up her leg. The wound still wasn't completely healed. At least the senior student had gotten her that poultice, otherwise...

Kia Min froze.

 _"Keep going! There are others still in the school!"_

Otherwise she would be dead.

"Oh, by the Great Dragon, no," she murmured as she closed her eyes. Now she remembered coughing and staggering out of the black smoke and ash, squinting as her eyes burned. The wide-eyed faces of the villagers had passed through her steps as she maneuvered around and over them, fighting her way to higher ground for any semblance of untainted air. At the top of this hill, she had collapsed, and she had taken in as much air as she could as she closed her eyes to banish away the red sky and crashed flyers from her sight.

Her gaze shifted to the hills that blocked the full glory of the sun. The hills were covered in black grass and splintered wood and scraps of metal. A faint brown haze drifted between the outlook and the hills, just over the beach, and Kia Min took a deep breath as she dared to peek below.

By the heavens, she had expected this, and she still had to force her eyes away. Old Ming had bowed his last to the great Emperor Sun Hai, his broom lying dutifully by his side. Scattered along the shore were bodies of men, women, and children, all bloodied by swords, spears, and axes midway through their escape. Kia Min caught sight of one woman with a bundle in her arms, and she strained her ears to listen for a baby's wail. Nothing. Not even the slightest whistle of a breeze.

When the men in black raced through the school, she, and the other students, had no time to ask questions or look for an explanation. Wen had exclaimed, "Assassins!" and Jing Woo had immediately sent the students into the village before he quickly realized that the students were targets as the villagers were, and that they must all fight for their own lives now.

Fight for their own lives, so that they could protect the younger students who could barely raise a fist to defend themselves. Fight for their own lives, so that they could come to the aid of the villagers who surely stood no chance. Fight for their own lives, because they were no use to anyone dead.

Kia Min scoffed. Turned out she was no use to anyone alive, either.

 _"I'll look to the villagers and save as many as I can."_

The beach below was a testament to her failure. How could she ever face the senior student now? But perhaps Wu, and Dawn Star, had succeeded where she had not. Kia Min had not gone back to the school after searching the village for survivors. And maybe some of the survivors had remained hidden, unsure if she was friend or foe or if she was being followed, and refused to take the chance for a rescue unless it was Wu the Lotus Blossom herself.

And if Wu and Dawn Star were still around, surely they must have stayed in the school. The farmlands were decimated, and the southern circle of houses was impossible to reach what with a huge cylindrical wooden and metal structure blocking the gateway. There was nowhere else but the outlook, and there was no place to hide here.

Kia Min knew in her heart that the chances were slim, but she had to take it. She had no other options. So she hesitantly put one foot in front of the other, using her staff for balance. The path down from the outlook was never easy, and an aggravated injury with a few new ones only made the trek worse. At the foot of the hill, she forced herself not to look directly at any of the villagers. As she made her way into the town square, however, that feat became more and more difficult, to the point of impossible as soon as she stepped foot within the square.

Bloodied and burnt bodies littered the streets-fellow students, the first, and only, wave sent into the village by Jing Woo; the seamstress, farmers picking up supplies, traveling merchants, Fen Do; and them. The monsters who tore through the town. Not the first group, who all managed to leave barely touched, hardly harmed, except for the one Kia Min faced. That dark man had taken an unfortunate misstep, overconfident that he could easily defeat her, and she found that small opening that led to his fall. He had cracked his skull on a boulder behind him. He was the only assassin to perish by the hands of a "no-good peasant."

No, these men were Gao's, who she had seen in the village a few times before whenever the Lesser threw a temper tantrum over Master Li's discipline and favoritism. She recognized a few as ones who were already dead when she came through yesterday. At the entrance to the school, however, she saw the men who had blocked her path into the village after running into Wu and Dawn Star.

Had they been after the senior student like the dark men had been after Master Li? Or had they finished with the villagers and had been off to help finish off the students? Kia Min never asked, and Gao's men would not have answered. The instant their eyes met, they had been locked in a death match Kia Min had quickly grown too familiar with. It was a pity that the mercenaries had not taken the match seriously at all.

That thought startled Kia Min. A pity? A pity _why_? Because she lived? Because they found everyone and everything in the village beneath them? Or perhaps-

 _No_. She shook her head. She was not like that. She was not like Gao the Lesser, to scoff at the loss of a good challenge. And she was alive, a blessing, not a curse, and she knew she had to trust the heavens that there was a reason she breathed and no one else did.

Kia Min turned her head toward the great stone stairs leading to the farmhouses and the weapon master's workshop. Gujin rested there now, with an ornate spear in hand and blood pouring from his gut onto the steps of his home. He never had a chance to go to the aid of the farmers, who had all burned in their homes.

Last night, Kia Min had fervently searched for an untouched home, for mothers and children fearfully taking shelter in nooks that no mercenary would think to look. Her path had led her straight to the Ni home, her final destination before she fled the village, and...

Kia Min shook the memory away. She needed to get into the school.

She checked the garden first. Only the village children Dawn Star sometimes entertained and spoiled were there, broken on the flower bed she had always carefully tended to. Nowhere among the fallen planks of the collapsed gazebo and small house were any signs of life. Anyone within would have been crushed, and Kia Min saw all that there was outside. So she pushed further into the school.

One glance down the pathway into the student quarters told all she needed to know. Everything that way was destroyed. The roofs had caved in and flattened the tiny huts, and no one could have taken shelter there. To her right, she could barely see past the fuselages and fallen trees, and the only survivors that way, she knew, had to have been there before the attack. Nobody could get past there now.

Kia Min approached the wooden gate, or what was left of it, and she was unnerved by the gentle quiet beyond. Dawn Star always hummed a soft song, especially when Wu was around fuming over the latest of Gao's antics. Wu herself was not often a quiet student, as much as she kept to herself, especially when Dawn Star or Jing Woo were around. If there were other students, or villagers, certainly she would hear some mumbling or weeping or something.

But there was not even a soft crackling of a burning campfire. No wind buried any stray noise. It was all silent.

She entered the main area of the school and carefully took in the sight around her. The library, the kitchen, and Master Li's house were all in the same state as the student quarters. The air of charred wood stung her nose, poisoned with that of burnt flesh, of blood a few hours exposed to air. She remembered the students in the town square, and she remembered Si Pat, and she named all the students lying here now.

In the middle of the ring, she saw a body she did not want to name. That body told her everything she needed to know about any survivors, about whether or not Wu the Lotus Blossom would have stayed, and Kia Min clenched her fists and snarled as she stormed over to him.

"You _fool_!" she hissed as she stood over the body of Jing Woo. "I _told_ you, didn't I? I _told_ you to take it easy, to go find some shelter somewhere in the school, didn't I? But no, you had to continue the fight, you had to send yourself to your own death. And for what purpose? What could you hope to accomplish by _dying_?"

Kia Min turned away from her friend and tears burned her eyes. "You idiot," she murmured again. "You, of all of us, were meant to survive. You had to. For her sake."

She would not receive a response, and now she knew for certain that Wu was gone, and Dawn Star with her. She had no more reason to be here, and therefore neither did Dawn Star. Kia Min was the only one left.

She looked up at the sky and watched the white wisps of clouds curl in the sky like a rare patterned cloth the seamstress had kept in her shop once, before her son drowned in the river. To think that just yesterday she had contemplated the same thing before the sky darkened and exploding casks fell. It was after word came through the school that Gao the Lesser had murdered Student Si Pat, and Kia Min had wondered who would tell his mother.

Her mind flew to her own mother, defending the family goods with a staff in one hand and a shoe in the other. A weapon to fend off bandits and another for street urchins. Kia Min touched one of the many buns upon her head, stray strands curling softly out of the knots. What would her mother do if word reached her that Min had died?

Home, she realized, she had to go home. There was nothing for her here now.

Kia Min took one last glance around the school, and headed for the gates.


	3. The Swamp

Watery mud seeped through her shoes and she curled her toes to wring out what she could as she trudged through the swamp. Kia Min had heard the tales of bandits lining the trail between villages, and she had always assumed that merchants preferred the river to the swamp for that reason alone. Now she believed otherwise, and she waved her hand in front of her face to keep from inhaling gnats during her trek.

She firmly grasped her bamboo staff as she swung at the tall grass and cattails, keeping her ears open for any noise straying from the chirping of crickets. Her eyes scanned for any odd movements in the reeds. Already she traveled half a day and had not run into any bandits, and she was growing increasingly worried. Would she be caught in a third ambush in less than a week? Kia Min doubted her luck would hold. If she was to die, she would have rather died in Two Rivers.

But the marsh was too quiet, even if she had never heard of caravans getting robbed by thieves and bandits. She was alone with frogs and insects, and aside from the flies, none of them she could see. Their songs pierced through the gray air, but they were subdued, as though each were humming a lullaby or a hymn.

Kia Min thought of children shrieking as they chased each other through the village, their mothers and fathers shouting after them. She heard the grunts and yelps of the students within the school as they parried attack after attack, block for block. Merchant Fen Do yelled and waved down anybody who so much as glanced at him from the corners of their eyes, promising a very good deal if they would please just step this way. Metal clanked from the top of the stairs where Gujin forged a tool for a farmer who had broken his by striking a buried boulder. And laughter, she heard the laughter of Ni Joh as they walked along the outlook as they shared stories from their childhood. A farmer boy and a merchant girl, both aspiring to be something more...

Kia Min found that she had slowed her march to a stop, and she glanced at her surroundings helplessly. Her chest felt heavy, and she leaned forward on her staff and closed her eyes. A deep breath, and another, and she stood back up and continued forward. She had to keep going.

A little way further, and she finally heard something amiss. She stopped and heard faint shouts coming from straight ahead. A snide snicker and a piercing cry of, "Help!" broke through before Kia Min realized that there was never an ambush awaiting _her_. She was empty-handed save for her weapon, and merchants had carts full of food and goods, and silver, and they did not yet know Two Rivers' fate.

She took the staff in both her hands, and launched her feet out of the thick mud and dashed forward. Sure enough, men in tattered clothes and sharp fists lugged crates from a single-ox cart, as a middle-aged man cowered to the side, bloodied and bruised.

Kia Min did not stop her charge, and she jammed the end of the staff into the spine of one of the bandits. He dropped the crate he held and crumpled to the ground. As his comrades surrounded her, Kia Min quickly and silently counted the remaining thieves. Four. The exact record she had briefly held back at the school.

She would win this.

The man in front of her threw a punch, and she ducked and swung her staff in front of her to send him and another to the ground. As she stood, she threw her leg back into the man's gut behind her. She briefly wondered how on earth an outlaw could have extraneous fat.

"Little girl, you've messed with the wrong gang," the last of them hissed as he pulled a knife from his belt.

Kia Min rolled her eyes and stabbed his chest with her staff. He fell backwards. "And you've messed with the wrong merchant," she said.

The fat man had only stumbled into the cart, but he was still on his feet. Kia Min took the other end of the staff and gave him the same treatment as the one with the dagger. His reaction time was thankfully very slow and he toppled, and she turned her attention back to the ones she had tripped. Both were climbing to their feet, groggy and angry, but she gave them no time to attack. She swung her staff on one man's head, and the other suffered a knee into his side as she spun with the flow of her movements. She refused to give him the opportunity to stand again, so she slammed her staff fully into his back, rendering him unconscious.

None of the other bandits had moved from where she had left them, and she frowned. Did she really hit that hard, and at the right pressure points? That seemed... too easy.

The merchant staggered to his feet, but he did not approach her. "I, uh... I don't have anything of-"

Kia Min raised a hand and smiled. "I'm not a bandit, but you should get out of here quickly. I don't think I killed these men." She could not have. But then, Gao's mercenaries had not been that much more difficult.

"Oh," said the merchant, and he wrung his hands together. "Well, I thank you. I thought for sure that-well, thank you. Where on earth did you come from?"

After a moment, she replied mournfully, "Two Rivers. I'm on my way home. My name is Kia Min, by the way."

The merchant nervously grinned. "They call me Wayfarer Wei," he said. "Two Rivers, you said? Of course, you're wearing the school's uniform! No wonder you dealt with those bandits so quickly." He laughed, then, and relaxed his shoulders. "Tell me, young lady, did you run into any other bandits between here and there?"

She cringed. "Well, no," she said slowly. "But-"

"I know, I know, you're not traveling with a cart full of wares for trade, but I don't have that much further to go. Unless, well, you wouldn't mind backtracking? It is odd that these bandits would have attacked me as they did. I stayed on the path, and they have never bothered me before." Wei paused. "Young lady, are you alright? You look quite pale."

Kia Min realized then that her hands trembled and she had been holding her breath. She exhaled, and she closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. "Two Rivers is gone."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Gone," she said. "Two Rivers is... gone." It was the first time she said it aloud. _Gone._ Hot tears teased the corners of her eyes. Oh please, not now.

Wei was silent for a moment. And then, finally, "Gone? As in... destroyed?" Kia Min flinched. "Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. This can't be. This _can't be._ Young lady, please tell me that... that is... you're not the only one..."

"No," said Kia Min. "There are two others, but they left, too. There's nothing left there. There's no one left."

"By the heavens," the merchant muttered, and he fell into his cart. "What am I to do now?"

Kia Min scowled and fought back the urge to knock him unconscious and take all his silver and food for herself. It was merchants like him, and Fen Do, who made it very, very difficult for her to defend her family's profession. Caring more for their own profits than human lives?

She opened her mouth to send him on his way back to wherever it was he came from, unattended by her, but he shook himself out of his self-pity and weakly smiled at her.

"I'm very sorry to hear about your school, your classmates, your friends," he said. "You said you were going home? Where is home for you, if not Two Rivers?"

Kia Min regarded him for a long moment. "Why?" she finally asked.

"You saved my life just now, and I'd like to pay you back. My village is an entire day's journey from this point on foot, and it is the closest village to Two Rivers," said Wei. "At the very least, I could get you there, so you don't have to walk, and I'll provide you with food for both the journey there and to your hometown."

She raised an eyebrow. "And you'd get protection from other bandits, too."

Wei paused. "I... would be lying if I said that's not another reason, but please, it's the least I can do, unless it'll be too out of the way. In which case, I'll just give you whatever you need for your journey and let you be on your way."

She sighed. If she was able to put up with Fen Do for the past five years surely she could deal with Wayfarer Wei for a day. "One Stone," she said finally. "I'm from One Stone."


	4. Yao Hong

Kia Min awoke to the dancing scent of steamed rice and meaty buns. Her stomach growled at her in response, demanding that the meals she took from Wayfarer Wei the day before were insufficient and that she needed to cough up the little silver she had and eat whatever was out there. She could hardly blame the merchant; the goods he had carried with him were to be sold, not given away, even to someone who saved his life.

As she sat up, she took a quick inventory of the room around her. The bedroom was the second of two rooms in the small hut the merchant called home, and there were only two beds for what had appeared to Kia Min a four person family. Wei shared with his wife the bigger of the two, and his children shared the second. Kia Min had taken the floor, as Wei had whispered his insistence that she wait until morning to continue to One Stone. Now the beds were unoccupied, and she heard murmuring in the other room.

Her staff stood vigil in the corner of the room, and after she quickly and carefully folded the blankets Wei had given her she grabbed the weapon and approached the door. Wei had given her enough hospitality, and it was time to go home. She would buy her breakfast on her way out of town.

"I'll figure something out," Kia Min heard Wei's voice hiss. "Don't worry, Xiang."

"I worry," a woman's voice-his wife, Kia Min presumed-came through much clearer. "Yao Hong will not give you another extension. He will take her."

"This was a circumstance beyond my control! Surely he must understand."

"That does not matter and you know it." A pause. And then, slowly, the woman continued, "That girl you brought home with you... perhaps she-"

" _No_ , Xiang." Wei's voice was firm, and suddenly angry, and though she only knew the merchant for a day this startled Kia Min.

"But she-"

Wei raised his voice. "I will not disgrace our ancestors. I'll find another way."

The woman-Xiang-sighed, and there was a clatter of pans clanking over a stove. "You will disgrace our ancestors no matter what you do. There is no other way. It's either Little Qing or the Two Rivers girl. Your daughter or your rescuer. Which will you be able to live with easier?"

Wei did not respond, and the woman did not continue. There was only the hiss of steam. Kia Min gripped her staff and held her breath and slowly pushed open the door. The shades were lifted here, and the sunlight streamed through liberally. Xiang stood in cotton robes over a stove and stirred a pot with a wooden spoon, her other hand in a fist nestled at her waist. Wei sat at a small table in the center of the room, his concentrated stare into his rice bowl disturbed by the sound of Kia Min entering the room.

He grinned at her uncomfortably and waved a hand at the seat in front of him. "Good morning, Kia Min," he said. "Please, have some breakfast. You should be well-fed before the rest of your journey."

Kia Min lifted a hand to politely decline, but Xiang looked over her should with a wry smile. "And well-rested. Please, feel free to stay as long as you like. Surely a wagon ride would not have given you a good sleep, nor our floor."

Wei shot a glare at Xiang, but she did not seem to notice. Kia Min shook her head. "No, thank you, but I feel I've imposed on you enough. I can just be on my way..."

"Nonsense," said Xiang. "Children are strong, they can sleep on the floor. And we have plenty of food to spare. Please, stay. I insist."

Kia Min sighed. She was now obliged to stay for breakfast, and she could see no easily polite way to squirm out of it. So she sat down across the table from Wei, who turned his eyes away and licked his lips as he twirled his chopsticks in his fingers. Xiang paraded to Kia Min with a bowl of rice and a bun, and she placed the food in front of her with a hurried insistence to eat.

"Thank you," Kia Min murmured with a bow.

Xiang replied with a strange smile, and a dangerous glint in her eyes to Wei, before she tottered to the entrance of the house to call in her children from the fields just outside. Kia Min did not immediately pick up her chopsticks to eat. Something was very, very wrong, and she could not decide if she needed to flee-and fast-or stay put.

Wei leaned forward and quietly confirmed this to her, "You must leave this town. Today. As soon as you've finished eating. I cannot let my wife do this."

Xiang called for the children again, more urgently this time. Kia Min thought she heard a young boy's voice protest, and so she had time before Xiang turned her attention back to her and Wei.

"Do what?" she hissed. "What's going on?"

"You cannot stay here. I will not allow it." He sat back and glanced towards his wife. "Trust me. Please, eat. Quickly."

This did not satisfy Kia Min, and she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Wayfarer Wei, I appreciate all you've done for me, but the very least you could do before sending me off on my way is to be honest with me." She stopped short of pointing out the fact that she had, in fact, saved his life on top of making sure he arrived home safely.

The giggles of children rushed closer to the house, and Wei shifted and said hurriedly, "Please believe me when I say that this is not your concern, and you should allow us to worry about our own problems."

Kia Min frowned, and as she heard Xiang usher the children into the house, she knew exactly how to corner Wei into telling her what she needed to know.

"From what I overheard earlier, this _is_ my concern, _and_ my problem. Mine," she turned to look at a little girl with pigtails, staring at her with fascinated curiosity, "and Little Qing's."

A frozen silence penetrated the room. The girl, Little Qing, clutched a ragged and dirty doll to her chest as she gaped at Kia Min part puzzled and part afraid. The boy, just a little bit older than his sister, clenched his fists but had fear in his eyes as well. Xiang shot an accusing glare at her husband, and Wei sighed.

"Children, take your breakfast and go eat outside," he said. Little Qing and the boy did as he asked and grabbed a bun each from the kitchen and ran outside. Wei watched them scamper towards a lone tree, and then said, "You heard that, did you. How much did you hear?"

"Enough," said Kia Min. "Enough to know that if I stay here, I'm in trouble, but if I leave, your daughter is in trouble. But I don't know why, and I'd like to."

Xiang crossed her arms. "You cannot help us."

"I never said I could. But I deserve to know why you're so intent on keeping me, and you-" Kia Min looked back at Wei. "-are so intent on driving me out of town. I meant it, that I've imposed on you enough, because I feel like Wei has repaid me sufficiently for my services already." She waved a hand at the uneaten food in front of her. "I feel like this breakfast would tip the scales of debt in your favor, and I want to know what kind of payment you'd be expecting from me."

Neither of them spoke. Husband and wife looked at each other, studying each other's faces, making decisions that Kia Min wished they would consider aloud. Finally, Xiang made her way into the kitchen muttering, "You doom our family. Nothing good will come of this."

Wei shook his head. "I have to apologize, Kia Min. I never meant for you to get caught up in this. I was only hoping to be charitable, but my wife, well, she means well, you have to understand. She's only trying to protect our children."

"I gathered that."

Despite her deadpan, Wei smiled. "You really are a clever one, aren't you?" he said softly. "Maybe you _can_ help..."

But before he could continue further, Xiang swore under her breath, and Kia Min saw her gaze directed towards the front of the house. She followed, and an ornate palanquin had stopped and a round man in blue and yellow silks stepped out of the litter as the two servants in straw hats gently set the vehicle down. He adjusted the sash around his waist, and he turned his piercing gaze towards the inside of the house.

"Wayfarer Wei! I know you're in there! My men saw your cart return last night."

Wei shot up and hurried to the door, but the man burst in before Wei could get close. Xiang hurried to her husband's side, and they both bowed to the man as he made his way through their small quarters.

"How were your business ventures in Two Rivers?" he drawled. "Very profitable, I'd imagine, for you to have returned so quickly." That was when he noticed Kia Min, and shivers crawled down her spine as he smirked at her. "And who's this? I was unaware Two Rivers was trading peasant girls."

Kia Min very slowly reached for the staff she had set beside her, keeping her eyes steady on this man. He licked his lips, and she found the cool touch of the polished bamboo and tightened her fingers around it. It would be quite bad if he touched her; she would not allow it, despite his status.

"Y-Yao Hong," stammered Wei, "I have some terrible news to report on Two Rivers. This affects us all. Please listen, and believe me. This girl was a student there, and she was the one who brought me the news-"

The man, Yao Hong, narrowed his eyes and turned his attention dangerously back to Wei. "Get to the point, you fool."

Kia Min cut in. "Two Rivers was destroyed a couple of days ago," she said firmly. "I am one of three survivors."

With a wicked grin, Yao Hong walked towards Kia Min as Wei and Xiang ceased their groveling stance. "Straightforward and blunt. I like that. Girl, do you mean to tell me that some disaster has befallen your town, and so Wayfarer Wei was unable to do business?"

"Yes," she said slowly, and she remembered Wei's reaction to the news in the swamp. By the heavens, was there something about trade in Two Rivers that ensured the safety of his family from this horrible man?

To her surprise, a contemplative look replaced Yao Hong's smirk, and his nose flared. "You do realize," he said quietly, almost mournfully, "that I cannot grant you another extension in spite of this, don't you, Wei?"

"Y-yes, but-"

Yao Hong lifted a hand and snapped his fingers. The two servants outside hurried to the door, stoic and biting their lips. He said nothing, but merely pointed out the door, towards the tree where the children were watching the palanquin carefully, and the servants quickly ran to them.

" _No_!" Xiang cried, and Kia Min hopped to her feet, staff in hand. It would not have mattered; the men had already grabbed Little Qing with the boy vainly kicking at their calves to let her go as they made their way back to the palanquin.

"Yao Hong, what do you think you are doing?" Kia Min demanded, though now she understood. "What do you want with the girl?"

"This is none of your concern, outsider," said Yao Hong as he stormed out the door. "I'd have gladly taken you, but I know your uniform and I know your school. You are a warrior and hardly worth the effort. Leave Hehua, and never return."

As he climbed into the palanquin, Xiang fell to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. Wei ran out the door to pull back the boy, and Little Qing within wailed and screamed for her father. The servants picked up the palanquin and trotted off, and Kia Min watched the broken family before her, feeling more helpless than she did during her wild search in the ruins of Two Rivers.

Slowly, she approached Wei, who was holding his son as the boy cried and cried. Wei looked up at her, and he sighed.

"... you were never supposed to see that. I thought I had at least another day, and you would have been on your way..."

"Wei," said Kia Min softly, "I need to know what just happened here."

Wei was silent for a moment, and then he ushered the boy inside to his mother and stood. "I suppose I have no choice now. Let's talk a walk, Kia Min. I'll explain everything to you."


	5. Slavers in Hehua

Hehua was on edge, with many of the villagers and farmers completely unwilling to part with their silver even to feed their family. Most of their clothes were torn and in patches, and most people looked like they were nothing but skin and bone.

All of them were shocked by the ferocity in Kia Min's voice when she asked them for the way to Yao Hong's house, and they all meekly pointed towards the far end of town without so much as stammering a word. She told herself that she ought to apologize, later, but she had no time now. Though Wayfarer Wei had bid her to leave town and not look back, she knew that she could not, in good conscience, leave without getting the man's daughter back to him.

Kia Min had no plan of action. She had very little silver, not enough to cover Wei's debt, and she had no interest in offering the services that Yao Hong would desire. Protection, maybe, and be his own personal body guard, but the state of the villagers told her that this would not do. That, and she knew that this would only last so long before Yao Hong would demand the other thing. But somehow, somehow, Little Qing would go home. She'd figure something out.

Yao Hong's home was a converted teahouse, she saw, back from a time when Hehua was more prosperous and free to do business with more than just Two Rivers. Unlike the rest of the buildings in the village, the house stood two stories tall, but like the rest of the village, the building was ill-kept and tattered. The ornate decorations had dulled from wind, rain, and snow, and strips of red paint were all that remained of what was once the pride of the town.

This was unacceptable. For all the high taxes Yao Hong levied on the town, surely he could have spent _some_ of the silver to maintain the old teahouse!

 _"There was never any explanation,"_ Wei's words came back to her. _"Nearly ten years ago, suddenly, taxes were raised, and only one merchant was allowed to do business with only one town. When we could not pay our debt, Yao Hong took one of our family members to sell into slavery. We would never hear from those poor souls again."_

Kia Min gritted her teeth. Yao Hong would pay.

"Yao Hong!" she yelled. "Get out here, and let those people go!"

No response. Kia Min walked closer to the door. If she would have to barge in, then so be it.

"Yao Hong!" she tried again. "I'm warning you. You said you know my school. I was one of the best students!" A lie, but Yao Hong did not need to know that. "If you do not wish to test my skill, open this door, _now_!"

For a moment, there was only the breeze. Then, finally, the massive doors to the old teahouse squeaked open. There stood Yao Hong, his hands clasped behind his back and his lips pursed with an agitated stare. On either side of him were men in rags wielding rusty long swords, their faces hard but their hands trembling. Kia Min gripped her staff. She had no intentions of harming Yao Hong's soldiers but as for Yao Hong himself, well, now she knew exactly how she would let the imprisoned villagers go free.

"Girl, I am pretty sure I told you that this was none of your business," said Yao Hong. "You test my patience."

"You test mine, Yao Hong," said Kia Min. "Let your prisoners go."

"The slaves? I cannot do that."

Kia Min threw her staff in front of her and used both hands to hold it. She narrowed her eyes. "Cannot? Will not, you mean."

Yao Hong did not budge. "I _cannot_."

She pushed her leg back and fell into a battle stance. "You _can_ , Yao Hong, and you _will_. You call yourself a leader of this town? Enslaving your own people and their children, and enforcing such ridiculous taxes? Only allowing trade with one village and forbidding any others to come here? Look around you! Hehua is _dying_ under your leadership."

"And it would be _dead_ by now if it weren't for me!" roared Yao Hong. "You think I'm a bad man, don't you? The state of this old teahouse alone should tell you that I do none of this for personal gain or glory!"

"But the silk you don suggests otherwise," said Kia Min. "Let the prisoners go. They are not slaves. Not now, not ever."

Yao Hong looked to both sides at the armed men beside him. They met his eyes, and he gave them one short nod each. "I cannot expect the villagers to understand and so I cannot expect you, an outsider, to understand. This is your last warning. Leave Hehua."

The men raised their swords above their heads and threw their unoccupied arms ahead of them. The way they positioned their feet and held their bodies told Kia Min that they had training in the basics of swordplay but that they had only ever fought against a mannequin; at Two Rivers, they would not have been able to stand on their feet for more than a couple of seconds in a match. Was Yao Hong so desperate he could think to scare her off so easily?

She dashed forward and neatly landed her shin into the stomach of one man, who crumpled over coughing and gasping for air. The other bit his lip, and Kia Min hopped to bring her heel into the back of his head. As he fell, unconscious, she twirled her staff and jammed the end of it into Yao Hong, and he toppled over backwards.

Kia Min held the end to his throat and snarled, "This is _your_ last warning, Yao Hong. Let them go."

He coughed, and he chuckled between gasps, his eyes hard and his sneer vile. "Girl, you may win this battle now, but if you kill me, you doom the town and all of its villagers. And, you will die."

She pressed the staff firmer against his throat. "You say that, but I'm the one at the advantage, here."

"You fool," he hissed, "do you often go attacking people without getting the full story?"

"Two Rivers was not granted that luxury," said Kia Min quietly, "and neither shall I grant it to you. Let them go, and you will live. If you do not, I will kill you, and I will free them. Either way, I win."

Kia Min ignored the shivers crawling down her spine as she spoke her threat. Surely Master Li never trained her to kill someone in cold blood like this, but he had trained the senior student and therefore the others to do some good in the world. What was the use of surviving if she could not help this small town today?

"Either way," said Yao Hong, "we all lose. Do what you will, girl. But I warn you, your actions here, now, will cost you your life. No matter what you do, no matter if you run, you will die."

"Or your barely skilled soldiers will hunt me down?"

Yao Hong snorted. "My men, my servants, are poorly paid but they are paid, and they are not slaves. I do not keep the slaves for myself, and I did not raise the taxes. Where do you think the slaves go, girl? There is a customer, and he is coming."

"Then I will deal with him when he comes," said Kia Min, and she pulled her staff back only to ram it through the throat of the slaver of Hehua.


	6. The Customer

"What have you done?" one of the men she had knocked over wheezed as he slowly lifted himself from the floor.

Kia Min stared at the wide-eyed corpse of Yao Hong, blood streaming in rivers from the bamboo lodged in his throat. What _had_ she done? This... this was not like her, this was _not_ her. Yes, she had killed back in Two Rivers, when it was a matter of life or death, when those who had fallen by her staff would have killed innocents, and her friends, if she did not kill them first. But no matter how noble her intention had been, here, now, Kia Min had just murdered another human being, for no other reason than that he had been unwilling to cooperate.

Master Li, Smiling Mountain, and Weapon Master Gujin would not have approved. Wu and Dawn Star would have been horrified. And, oh, what would Ni Joh and Jing Woo have said?

She took in a deep breath and braced Yao Hong against the floor as she pulled her staff from his throat. She turned her attention to the gasping soldier, and to her shock he was not gaping at his fallen master but at her, as though he was her father who couldn't believe the monster she had just become.

Kia Min cleared her throat. "Where did he keep the villagers he was going to sell into slavery?"

"Y-you don't understand," said the man, his voice trembling, "what you have done."

He wasn't listening, so she tried again. "Where are they? I'm here to free them."

"None of us are free! Not anymore!" And then the man fell to the ground, and Kia Min thought she heard a hoarse sob. "We are doomed, we are doomed..."

Kia Min frowned. Yao Hong had either trained his men very well to think like him, or she had truly missed something. "What are you talking about?"

"T-the customer," he said in a harsh whisper, "h-he's on his way. Today. And he will enslave us all."

She knelt down in front of the man and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Who is this customer? A minister? A lord? This cannot be legal." She could not fathom the Emperor allowing this, but she remembered what Yao Hong and Wayfarer Wei had said about taxes. Maybe someone with wealth who could masquerade as someone with power?

"Worse," said the man. "He is a... a Lotus Assassin. And when he sees Yao Hong dead, he will take us all. When he sees that you killed him, he will kill you. There will be no one to stop him."

"Lotus Assassin?" Kia Min breathed, and she thought of the sorceror on the beach at Two Rivers. Rumors had spread-and Lin had helped it-that he had been an assassin, and when those black men tore through the town, Wen had called them assassins as well. Now it made sense; Wen had mentioned Lotus Assassins before with a trace of fear in his voice, and those must have been the men who took Master Li and killed many of the students.

She remembered the one she had managed to defeat, the only one to be defeated in Two Rivers that day, and how that man had been careless for only one second. Kia Min had survived on a fluke. She doubted she would be so lucky again.

For the life of her, could the Emperor really be sanctioning the enslavement of his own people? And was this Master Li's fate? But why just him, and not the rest of the town?

Not that she would wish that upon the people of Two Rivers, but at least they would have still been alive, and possible to rescue.

The man laughed sadly and staggered to his feet. "Now you see what you have done. Yao Hong was a good man. He paid us what he could afford. The silks he wore were given to him by the customer so he could maintain an image of power in the village. He did not raise the taxes; the customer imposed them. Yao Hong owes the customer five thousand silver a month, and if he cannot pay it he has to give the customer that amount in resources, and the only resource the customer will accept are slaves."

Kia Min shot a glance at the dead man beside her. "Why couldn't he have just told me?"

"For what purpose? The end result would have been the same."

She closed her eyes. What _had_ she done? She had never been this careless before-had the fall of Two Rivers jaded her this much already? She thought of Wu the Lotus Blossom, and she wondered what the senior student would have done differently, and what would she do now?

But then, Kia Min remembered, she was not Wu, and Wu was not here. All Kia Min knew was that she could not walk away now. This was not as simple as kill Yao Hong and free the villagers. She had one more person to fight, and he would be here soon.

"How much longer until the customer gets here?" she asked.

"Any minute now. He comes by flyer."

"Alone?"

The man sounded shocked when he said, "You mean to fight him. You will _die_."

Kia Min smiled as she stood to face the man, who had wandered over to his unconscious companion. "You and Yao Hong both made it sound like an inevitability. If that is the case, if I am to die, I would rather die fighting, not running. If I am to die, I would rather die trying to save innocents than trying to preserve my own life. And at least this way, all of you have a chance at freedom."

"No matter how slim?"

"No matter how slim, it's worth fighting for."

They stared at each other, and then the men knelt down to check for the pulse of the other soldier. Kia Min kept her breaths controlled as she watched the man study the state of his companion. His brow creased, and he pursed his lips. She wasn't sure what she was expecting him to say, expecting him to do. All she knew was that no matter what this man did, she could only wait.

Finally, he stood back up, and he tightened his grip on his sword. "Alright," he said. "How can I help?"

* * *

Kia Min had seen these structures of wood and metal crash in an explosion of sparks and flames as they darkened the sky over Two Rivers. To see one land, almost delicately, in the field behind the old teahouse, only put her more ill at ease. She never saw the flyer that Master Li had been taken away in land, only fly away, and that was when those dark men-those Lotus Assassins-had finally retreated. The students thought it had been all over, and they had begun taken inventory of their fallen comrades. And then Gao's men came and she hated to remember the rest.

She made a careful effort not to avert her eyes towards the trees lining the field. Somewhere back there, Yao Hong's soldier had slinked off with the captive villagers. This customer may track them down, but at least if she fell here, they had a chance. She only hoped that the soldier could get back to Hehua in time to warn the others.

The flyer door creaked open and calmly walked out a man with dead skin and red-trimmed black robes. His hands were clasped behind him, and he wore a scowl, and Kia Min shivered as she recalled Yao Hong greeting her the same way. Nonetheless, she would be less rash with the customer and more ready for battle. This would not be easy.

"Where is Yao Hong?" the customer demanded. "Where are my slaves? The silver?" Kia Min noted how his last demand sounded more like an afterthought.

"He's dead," she said, "and there are no slaves for you. Or silver."

There was something oddly familiar about this man...

The customer narrowed his eyes, and Kia Min held her breath and carefully eyed his fists, his legs. She could not afford to be surprised by a swift attack. "You fool," he hissed. "If you are responsible, you will die. If you are not, you better start talking, and fast. I have little time and no patience to start a goose chase for measly little peasants."

Kia Min opened her mouth to say the retort she had carefully crafted, but the customer's demeanor changed, then.

"Wait," he said. "I know that uniform." He paused, and then his face darkened. "I _knew_ we shouldn't have left the rest of the town to Gao's men! No matter, I'll finish the job, here and now."

"What?" Kia Min whispered.

And then she remembered, before the casks had hit the school, when she heard yelling all around her and screams from the village, and after Master Li had followed the red-masked man and the white-masked woman into the flyer, this man. He had glanced at the red mask, and he had delivered a final blow to his opponent... his opponent, the boy with the elaborate hairstyle who had come to the school a year after her. The only one besides Dawn Star to have ever gotten close to the senior student, and the one student Kia Min had felt comfortable confiding in...

"You!" She ripped out her staff from its holdings on her back. " _You killed him_!"

The customer snorted. "I killed lots of men." And then a wicked grin spread across his face. "But I remember the one you speak of. I remember you. Revenge for your lover, is it?"

"Not lover, friend," Kia Min hissed. "And a very important one."

He ignored her. "How much longer did he live after I left? I'm very interested to know. I had no interest in making his death quick and painless; he caused too much trouble for us."

In spite of herself, Kia Min smirked. "Well, he'd be delighted to know that we were that effective."

"Don't flatter yourself," the customer retorted. "You were nuisances like gnats, not wolves and tigers. Only one of ours fell to you pitiful students, and he was a fool. Come to think of it, he died by your hand." He laughed. "You really think you have a chance against me, don't you? Do you plan on hunting each of us down, one by one? You will not even survive this encounter."

"I wasn't here for revenge," said Kia Min. "I wasn't standing before you to right the wrongs in Two Rivers. I was here to right the wrongs in Hehua. Now, I guess I'm here to save this town _and_ avenge the one I came from."

The customer continued to laugh. "You will die."

"So Yao Hong kept telling me," she said. "I'm well prepared for it. Are you?"

"Fool," he spat, "I hope you enjoyed those last words of yours."

Kia Min let him attack first, and she ducked beneath his charging form. As he leaped over her, she somersaulted to gather some distance between them. They spun to face each other, and the customer snickered.

"Not too bad," said he, and a green glow emanated around his hands and he fell into a viper stance. "Have you ever fought with poison?"

"You're that sure of yourself," she said to herself. She hoped that it was not merited, and that he would be much like Gao the Lesser in that respect.

This time when he charged, Kia Min did not dodge. She lunged forward with her staff and she did not allow herself to be surprised when she landed one, and then two, blows upon his torso. He rolled to the side, and she followed suit, and they circled around each other some time more. Back in Two Rivers, she realized, the students who remained standing by the time the dark men disappeared were the ones who fought with staffs, and Jing Woo, though he was barely on his feet when Gao's men raced through the school.

The Lotus Assassins, she realized, did not fight with weapons. She had a longer reach; this was her one advantage. But she had to be careful, because this was always her one advantage against Wu as well. The senior student always knew it and compensated. Kia Min had no reason to expect that the customer would be any different.

He moved quickly and silently, and Kia Min tried her best to keep up. Suddenly, he was gone from her sight, and she barely had time to spin around before she fell forward when a hard slap hit her on the back of her head. She staggered back to her feet and held her head, the trees and teahouse blurring together, and she felt three more blows to her head.

As she fell, she remembered the technique Smiling Mountain had taught her, and she turned so that she would land on her back, her arms widespread. She blinked hard once, her vision clearing in just enough time to roll away from a hand slice from the customer, and she hopped to her feet. That poison was effective. A cheap trick, but effective.

The customer smirked. "Now I see how you survived the attack on your town," he said. "You're smart, witty, and quick. You could almost be a Lotus Assassin yourself, with the right training."

Kia Min scowled. "I did receive the right training," she said, "but not to become a monster like you."

"I like you," said the customer with a laugh. "Too bad you must die. Enough talk, enough play. I'll at least let you die quickly and painlessly." A beat, and a sickening sneer. "Unlike your friend."

It was only later did Kia Min realize that the customer had brought up Jing Woo again to provoke her into making a mistake. But the moment he said that, she had had enough. She barely remembered the fight, only that she took significantly less hits than she gave, and when she heard a loud crack she worried that she had broken her one advantage, her one chance at survival. Then the customer fell, his neck bent unnaturally, and his horrified face unmasking every dark facet within his soul for eternity.

Kia Min glanced at the bamboo staff in her hands, and it was in no worse condition than before the fight. She fought back a grin. Who knew that a weapon used in practice bouts could be so effective?

With the customer dead, and she kicked at him a few times and waved a hand in front of his eyes rapidly to be sure, Kia Min wandered into the woods to find the soldier and the forever safe villagers of Hehua.


	7. One Stone

A warm, orange hue tinted the sky by the time Kia Min made her way back to Wayfarer Wei's house with a sleeping Little Qing in her arms. The soldier had requested that Kia Min help with the initial preparations for Yao Hong's funeral, and to help spread the word of the truth of the man's intentions with the slavers.

"If he didn't do it this way," the soldier explained, "the customer would have enslaved the entire town in one fell swoop. At least this way, we were given a chance at freedom." He paused, and then he smiled. "By the way, tell Wayfarer Wei that he can trade with more than just Two Rivers now. The customer didn't want us sharing our plight with enough towns and villages to cause a ruckus, but that doesn't matter anymore."

On her way out of the teahouse, the rescued villagers thanked Kia Min graciously, and a couple tugged at her sleeve asking her to please save their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters. She only smiled and promised to do what she could, but the empty promise was enough to let her pass without any incidents or further words. What could she do? She knew nothing about flyers much less how to fly one, and she had no idea where the Lotus Assassins took the slaves and what they did with them once there.

Then Kia Min began to wonder about other villages who shared the same plight as Hehua. Were there many of them? Did Emperor Sun Hai allow this, or was this being done behind his back? Why was it happening in the first place? And surely, there must be more than just herself stopping it from happening!

Master Li always talked about Wu's destiny. Kia Min began to wonder if maybe slavery had something to do with it. She grinned as she made her way towards the edge of town. Yes, Kia Min was not the only one, and even if Wu wasn't rectifying these wrongs directly she must be taking care of the bigger problem. Master Li would have trained her for no less.

Kia Min glanced at the sleeping child in her arms. Yes, all of this was worth fighting for, and saving this one town must be helping the senior student achieve her destiny. But she wasn't done yet, and Kia Min knew that she needed her father's help in One Stone to nudge Hehua back on the right track.

As she neared Wei's home, she saw a frantic shuffle of shadows from the windows. Kia Min nudged Little Qing awake, and the little girl rubbed her eyes sleepily as the wooden door to Wei's house flew open.

"You're home," Kia Min whispered as she set the girl down. Little Qing gave Kia Min a puzzled look, and then she turned towards the house, where her father and brother stood in shock in the doorway and her mother had fallen to her knees in tears.

Little Qing's face brightened. "Mama! Baba! Tu Bo!" she shrieked as she raced into her mother's arms. Mother and daughter embraced, and son joined in, while the father approached Kia Min with awed tears in his eyes.

"I... I don't know what to say!" said Wei. "How... how on earth...? How is this possible? What did you do?"

Kia Min said quietly, "I killed Yao Hong, and the man he was selling your people to. You're all safe now. You never have to worry about anybody taking your children away from you again."

"Oh," Wei breathed, and he dropped his face into his hands. "Oh! You... you're a godsend. I knew as much when you saved me from the bandits but I never dreamed that you could do this much for us! For all of us, for all of Hehua. How can I... how can any of us ever repay you?"

Kia Min smiled. "The only thing I ask," she said, "is that you give me a ride to One Stone first thing in the morning."

* * *

After spending a night on a bed (which Kia Min hastily declined, but Xiang would have none of it) and a hearty dinner and breakfast where Kia Min indulged the story to the family, Kia Min and Wei climbed into his wagon and headed to the northeast for One Stone. Wei had moved to unload his cart the night before so that he could get her to One Stone faster, but Kia Min told him not to bother. She assured him she was in no rush, and it would be too much of an inconvenience for him.

It wasn't until they had stopped to camp for the night did she tell him, "My father is a merchant, and one of the wealthiest in One Stone. He can help you get on track to doing business in our town, and in the surrounding villages."

Wei nearly dropped the bun Xiang had packed for them. "What? But you've already done so much..."

"I wouldn't feel right," she said, "leaving Hehua in the state it's in right now. If it makes you feel any better, consider this a favor you're doing for me, so I can be more at ease." She paused. "And please, don't thank me."

That, of course, did not stop Wayfarer Wei from doing exactly that the rest of the way to One Stone.

* * *

The town had not changed since Kia Min left for Two Rivers five years ago. In the surrounding fields, the farmers planted and picked in the water-filled rice paddies while children ran about with kites in their hands. In the town itself, the men and women either called for people to please shop from them or they bustled between booths to gather the wares they needed while the boys wrestled in the streets and the girls played with their dolls.

Only during the turning of the New Year did Two Rivers ever come close to this kind of excitement, and most of the energy was churned by the students who were aching to do something other than train everyday. Kia Min smiled as she remembered Wen lamenting that Two Rivers still came nowhere near the Imperial City on a quiet day, and she imagined him saying the same thing here.

"Oh, my," Wei murmured as Kia Min led him to her father's home. Nobody turned to stare at this newcomer, though some curiously pointed at Kia Min. They were the mothers and fathers of her childhood friends. She wondered what they were up to now.

She motioned for Wei to stop the wagon in front of the two-story stone and brick building the Kia family called home. Before she could call for someone to either watch over Wei's goods or let her into the gated yard to the back of the house, her brother came bursting out of the house.

"Min!" he exclaimed as he embraced her. "You're back, you're back!"

"That was fast," Kia Min said with a laugh as she returned the hug.

"Oh, you already forgot, my dearest little sister? Rumors travel fast in One Stone. Hua Li came yelling in front of the house only a little while ago. Nothing gets past him."

She smirked. "I think rumors travel fast no matter what town you're in," she said. Kia Min waved towards Wei, who was climbing out of the wagon. "Anyway, this is Wayfarer Wei. He gave me a ride home, and he needs new business. Wei, this is my older brother, Kia Jun."

Wei brought his hands in front of his face and bowed. "P-pleasure to meet you," he said quietly. "I come from Hehua."

Jun tilted his head thoughtfully. "Hehua? That sounds a little familiar. Can't remember why, though. Have we done business with your town before?"

"I... couldn't say," said Wei. "I wasn't always a merchant, and we only traded with Two Rivers the past few years."

Before Kia Min could interject, her mother appeared at the door, her face lit up but her eyes betraying some lingering sadness. Did she really miss her that much, Kia Min wondered. Still, Kia Min smiled, and her mother greeted her with an astonished whisper, "You're already back."

Kia Min nodded. "Yes, I..." She took a deep breath. "... am."

This probably wasn't the best time to bring up what had happened to Two Rivers. She would tell her family later, after business with Wei was concluded.

"You should go see your father," her mother said, and she grabbed Kia Min's arm and ushered her into the house. "He'll want to see you."

Kia Min opened her mouth to protest, but the grip her mother had on her arm was firm and insistent; there was no point in fighting. She glanced back at Jun, who waved with a smile and a wink and a nod towards Wei. Kia Min sighed in relief and gave him a small smile in appreciation. She only worried that Wei would say more than he needed to without giving her a chance to say anything to her brother and mother, but though her family were successful merchants, they were fair and reasonable. Wei would be fine.

Still, as she made her way through the sun-filled house with everything in exactly the same place as she remembered them, she began to wonder and worry. Her father was a very exuberant and active man, and Jun aside, she expected him to be the first one at the door to greet her. But maybe he was really busy and couldn't spare the time to meet her. Not that that had ever stopped him before when her uncle, Jong, came to visit, but maybe that was all there was to it.

Kia Min first checked the office where her parents kept tabs on the exchanges and trades they made, to make sure that no urchin or sneaky thief had made away with anything. The rice paper shades were drawn, and the room was very, very still. She then wandered to the back, where the oxen were lazily munching on grass and dirt. Her father was not there, either.

The bedroom? He couldn't be there.

This was not a good sign.

Tentatively Kia Min climbed up the stairs towards her parents' bedroom, and she heard a rustle of papers on the other side of the rice paper door. She drew in a sharp breath, and slid the door open. Sure enough, her father, his hair gray and wrinkles swimming across his skin, sat in the bed with a pillow propped behind his back and covers beneath his legs.

Kia Min was dumbfounded but she couldn't find any words to ask the questions she wanted to ask. Her father, though, spared her the trouble, and he nearly immediately glanced up from the papers he held in his hands.

"Min!" he exclaimed with an astonished smile. "I see your mother's letter got to you before mine did."

Kia Min frowned. "Letter?"

"I really would rather you have stayed at Two Rivers to finish up your training," he continued. "There's no need to worry about an old man like me. But I'm not unhappy to see you, don't get me wrong. But why waste travel expenses? Your mother is fretting over nothing. The doctor said I still have at least a year..."

"Father," Kia Min forced in. "What are you-" And then she stopped. Doctor? Her father bedridden? Letters? "Oh," she murmured. " _Oh_. Father. I..." She sighed. "You know I would have come, whether or not you told me to. Master Li would have understood."

He shook his head. "Oh, Min, I knew you'd say that. You're just like your mother like that." He smiled warmly. "You even still wear your hair like she does. It's nice to know that some things never change."

Kia Min grinned meekly. "And some things change too much," she murmured.

A strong hand gripped her shoulder, and she heard Jun's boastful voice say, "Father, I hope you're not too tired for a business proposition. Min brought a man home who could really use our help."

Kia Min glanced over her shoulder and saw Wei behind Jun, giving her a small smile. He mouthed the words, "Thank you," and she knew that Jun had really taken care of things for her. Her mother had agreed, and there was no way her father could even possibly think to turn the man down now. She nodded once. Hehua would be fine, now.

Her father waved his hand towards Wei, and Jun bowed out and grabbed Kia Min's arm to lead her out of the room. "Better to let two accomplished businessmen handle this," he said as he closed the door behind him.

"Well, aren't you going to take Father's place someday?" said Kia Min as they made their way down the stairs.

Jun nodded. "Yes," he said slowly. At the bottom of the stairs, the two siblings stopped, and Jun sighed. "Wei told me what you did at Hehua. Seems like you got one-of-a-kind training in Two Rivers. Mother's very proud, and Father will be, too."

Kia Min narrowed her eyes. Jun wasn't doting upon her like he was prone to doing when he heard of her accomplishments. "But?"

Jun glanced out the window, bit his lip, and turned back to his sister. "I want to see just exactly how good you got the past few years. Tomorrow morning, we spar, just like old times."


	8. Fraternal Bout

Kia Min met her brother just on the outskirts of the town, and together they walked past the rice fields and into the woods where they had often sparred before her mother sent her to Two Rivers. Wayfarer Wei had stayed the night, and he and her father had struck up a deal that would certainly save the town from anymore economic disrepair. Min barely understood the details of it, but no matter; that was Jun's concern, not hers.

Jun had a metal staff worked for him by One Stone's blacksmith for his birthday last year, he explained. "If you can beat me today," he said during their hike, "I'll get him to make one for you, too."

"And if I don't?" asked Kia Min, though she was fairly certain she outclassed Jun by now.

"Then you tell me why you _really_ came home."

She fell silent; she never did get around to telling her family about Two Rivers' fate. Wei had kept that part of his tale out when he explained his situation to the Kia family. "I feel that's something _you_ should tell them," he had said before he left for Hehua that morning. "The name of the one town we were allowed to trade with was unimportant anyway, and it doesn't matter anymore. Your family is a clever bunch. They'll figure it all out when you tell them."

But Kia Min never did get around to it. She had instead spent the evening trying to get details about her father's illness without revealing that she never received any letters, all while helping her family take care of Wei. It was not that she did not have the chance to either, however. Her father asked her how this visit would affect her training. She responded that it would not. Her mother asked her how she liked Two Rivers, and Kia Min told her that she loved it there.

Jun must have detected her use of past tense when she said these things. She wondered if her parents did, but perhaps they had too much on their minds. Besides, it would hardly have been appropriate to tell them with Wei still around.

So why was she dreading the idea of losing to Jun?

Kia Min scowled. There was no need to look into that further. She just hated losing. Only two people were allowed to defeat her, and they were somewhere else in the Empire by now. She would tell Jun, and her parents, at dinner tonight. Or tomorrow night.

They came to a clearing in the middle of the woods, and Jun spun his staff idly. "You think I should grab a stick from around here and use that instead, even up the odds?" he asked with a lazy smirk.

Kia Min rolled her eyes. "I've had five years of constant, rigorous training. You're _that_ sure of yourself?"

"You sparred against other students in practice matches. I fought against bandits and thieves, sometimes to the death."

"I fought bandits too," she said. "And the students I sparred against? I sparred against them every day. How often did you fight the thieves who came sneaking around Father's stand?"

"Does that matter? I fought to the death, and won every time." A beat. "Obviously. How many times did you lose?"

"Did Wayfarer Wei tell you the part how I saved him from a bandit attack?"

"Aha! You're dodging the question. I win this duel."

Kia Min sighed and shook her head. "That's not enough to get me to tell you what happened." Not that she needed to lose to tell him, anyway, but he had to earn it now, if he was going to be like this.

Jun laughed and fell into a sparring stance. "Likewise, if you had won. I'd have said the same thing. Winning an argument will not earn you a new weapon."

As Kia Min followed suit, she found herself smirking. "For some people, it does," she said, thinking of the many arguments Wu and Jing Woo had won to get what they wanted. Though, Jing Woo had been quicker to call it "using their natural charm" than arguing. And, to be fair, Wu had been more flirtatious in her means to the prize.

Was that how Wu managed to get Merchant Fen Do to lower the price on the poultice? Kia Min cringed. She would much rather not think about that.

Jun, still smiling, shook his head. "That sounds like a story. Tell me after I win. That's the deal, after all."

He slid his feet towards her, lunging his upper body forward to stab her in the gut. Kia Min sidestepped and swung her staff at his head. "Actually, it's not. And you're _not_ going to win."

"We'll see about that," said Jun.

Their bout only lasted for a few seconds, with Kia Min standing victoriously over her brother with a staff at his throat. "I win," she sneered, but then she saw Yao Hong beneath her feet and she jerked away from Jun. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again and pasted a grin on her face. "Looks like you owe me a new staff."

She offered her hand to help him up, but he jumped to his feet and resumed a ready position. "Best two of three," he said with a frown.

Kia Min almost laughed. "I don't think your chances are going to be any better a second time around."

"What, are you afraid you might actually lose this time?"

"No, I just don't want to humiliate you. Losing to a girl. Your little sister, no less."

"Oh, hoho," said Jun, " _you're_ that sure of yourself?"

Kia Min considered this for a moment. "Yes," she decided.

Another short-lived match, and Kia Min proved once more that she outclassed her brother by far now. This time, she pinned him against a tree, his staff fallen to the ground and his arms in the air in surrender.

"Okay, okay, fine," he said. "You win. I'll talk to the blacksmith first thing tomorrow morning."

Kia Min smirked. "I thought so," she said, and she released his throat from the threat of her bamboo staff. "I told you I'd come home and kick your ass. Mother was right; there's no substitute for formal training."

"Eh, we get by with what we know," said Jun as he picked up his staff. "It's always more than the thieves and bandits, and when it's not, we can usually outsmart them. So, when are you going back?"

Kia Min glared at her brother; she knew what he was trying to do. But instead of asking why did he want to know, or retorting that he lost, she replied, "I'm... not."

"Why?"

"The deal was, I would tell you why I left Two Rivers if I lost. I won. So I'm not obliged to tell you anything."

Jun raised an eyebrow. "But you're going to anyway. Or is it that bad?"

"I didn't get expelled or kicked out if that's what you're thinking," said Kia Min. "It's... worse than that."

"How worse?"

She hesitated. "Worse," she said.

Jun chuckled nervously, and said, "You didn't kill anybody, did you?" Kia Min pursed her lips and looked away. Jun's lighthearted tone vanished. "Did you?" She could hear the frown in his voice.

"I didn't have a choice," she said. "If I didn't kill, I would have been killed. The other students, the villagers... they weren't so lucky."

"What are you talking about, Min?"

Kia Min sighed and sat on a fallen log nearby. "Two Rivers is gone, Jun. Destroyed. Completely destroyed. Only three of us survived. I don't know where the other two are, but..."

"Destroyed?" Jun breathed as he settled next to her. "Why?"

"I don't know. They took our master but they killed everybody. _Everybody_. I don't... I don't know why. They just came, grabbed him, left, and sent in another swarm to take care of everyone else." Kia Min dropped her head into her hands. "And I don't know why. I couldn't save anybody. Everyone is _dead_ , Jun. Everyone. And I couldn't do anything. I couldn't save _anyone_."

Her eyes burned, and she felt hot tears tickling her eyelashes. The images came back to her, the red flames grazing through the village and licking the sky, black smoke devouring the sunlight, students falling lifeless to the ground one by one, the Ni farmhouse, and the charred bodies of the little girls under the bed or beneath their parents with blood streaming from their backs, Ni Joh lying at the doorway of the home with a knife gripped in his hands...

Kia Min shook away the memories. This was not the time. This was not... not with Jun here, not...

"Oh, Min," murmured Jun as he pulled her into a tight embrace. "Oh, Min, no, you can't go blaming yourself."

"I'm _not_ ," she insisted. "I don't blame myself. I just... I should have..."

"'Should have' is blaming yourself. I know you did the best you could. Your fellow students and the villagers would not have expected you to do any better."

"But they would have wanted me to." Kia Min pulled away and wiped her eyes. "I'm fine, Jun. Really. I'm fine. I just wish I could've done more. Anything more. There were a lot of people who didn't have to die. One of my friends was being too stubborn, too proud. Other students... should have retreated, should have _hidden_. They should not have fought. And I wonder, if we _didn't_ fight, could things have turned out differently?" She sighed. "Would we have been taken in as slaves instead?"

Jun frowned. "After what you saw at Hehua, you would be okay with that fate?"

"Everyone would still be alive," she said, "and possible to rescue. If not by me, then by the senior student, who was away at the time of the attack. She survived. I don't know where she is now, what she's doing now." She grinned. "Maybe getting revenge. She grew up there, you know. In Two Rivers. Never had another home, never had another family. She was always a little bit of a hothead, but not as bad as..." Kia Min trailed off and scowled. _Gao_.

Jun nodded slowly. "I assume, then, you know who did this. And so does she, the senior student?"

"Yes."

"But you don't know why."

Kia Min shook her head. "I don't. I don't understand why everything happened the way it did, or why it happened at all. If it had just been the mercenaries, I'd have a better idea. If Master Li hadn't been taken, it would be _easy_. The mercenaries worked for the father of a student who had just been expelled. But Master Li was kidnapped, and the mercenaries didn't come first."

"Who did come first, then?"

Kia Min closed her eyes and sighed. "Lotus Assassins. Have you ever heard of them?" She opened her eyes and turned to look at her brother, to gauge the expression on the face. There she saw a mix of confusion and shock and horror.

He knew.

"The Lotus Assassins?" Jun breathed. "But... how? Why? That doesn't... that doesn't make any sense. They're... I mean... _what_?"

Kia Min smiled ironically. "You've heard of them, then. I didn't know anything about them until a student came to Two Rivers from the Imperial City. Never heard of them until then. Never cared, until I found out it had been them that attacked. That it was them who were enslaving the people of Hehua." She frowned. "I don't understand. They're sanctioned by the Emperor, aren't they? They work for him? Why would they do things like this?"

Jun was silent for a moment. "Min," he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "You need to talk to Father about this."

She shook her head. "I don't want to worry him-"

" _Min_ ," he said firmly. "You _need_ to tell him. Everything you just told me. And then you need to ask him about Uncle Jong."


	9. Kia Jong

It was midday when Kia Min and Jun returned to town. Their mother instantly pulled Jun by the ear and dragged him to their shop, and on the way Jun nodded towards the upstairs windows and mouthed, "Go." Kia Min sighed, but she did as her brother asked. No one ever told her why Uncle Jong just up and left one day without saying goodbye, but she did remember that that was the day Jun first started training her in the very same clearing they had their bout. A few months later, her mother sent her to Two Rivers.

This couldn't be good.

Kia Min knocked the door to her parents' bedroom, and within her father bid her to enter. She slid the door open and there he was in bed as always, now, with some scrolls and books in hand and a bored expression melting into an ecstatic one when he saw her.

"Min!" he exclaimed. "I was hoping you'd come by. Did you win?"

Kia Min smiled. "Of course I did. You didn't think you spent a fortune sending me to school for me to keep losing to him, did you?"

"Of course not," said her father with a laugh. "How much longer do you have to train, then? And surely you're not going to wait around for me to die to go back!"

She cringed. "Um, about that..." She sighed, and she took a seat at the bedside. "I need to tell you something. It's... it's not going to be easy to say, again, and you won't like hearing it, but... I have to say it. Jun said that I needed to tell you." And she repeated the story about the kidnapping of her master, the slaughter of the students and villagers, and the men who did it.

Her father kept a solemn face throughout the tale, his brow furrowed and his mouth pursed. As she finished, he nodded slowly, and said nothing. For a moment, there was an agonizing silence, and Kia Min gripped the fabric of her pants waiting for him to say something. She did not know what she expected or wanted to hear him say, but somehow, this was supposed to lead to a conversation about Uncle Jong.

"Lotus Assassins, you say," he said slowly, carefully.

Kia Min nodded. "Yes. I think so. I'm pretty sure." She paused, and she sighed. "I know they were. There was one of them at Hehua, and he had been at Two Rivers-"

"And that's the 'customer' you fought and killed." He hardly sounded surprised. Kia Min tried to hide her own at that.

"Yes."

"And you survived an entire onslaught of them when Two Rivers-"

"Yes, but to be fair, they came for our master and left. It was Gao's-" She nearly spat the name. "-men who 'took care' of the rest of us. And I'm the only one to have survived that. Other than Wu and Dawn Star."

"But you still fought a Lotus Assassin and lived to tell the tale. Twice."

Kia Min pursed her lips. "Yes."

Her father considered this for another long moment. "That's too coincidental to be mere luck, Min." He smiled wryly. "You must have been something exceptional, to have been the only one other than the two top students to have lived. You received the same training as everyone else, I assume? All three of you?"

"Well," she said as she squirmed in her seat, "Wu did get a lot of extra attention from Master Li. She has some destiny to fulfill, he always said. And in any case, both Wu and Dawn Star were not in town when the Lotus Assassins came through. Dawn Star had been kidnapped by Gao just before the attack, and Wu had gone after her. They came just in time to take care of Gao's men. I... just got lucky, really, with that Lotus Assassin."

"But not the one in Hehua."

Kia Min laughed nervously. "I don't remember much of that fight... but truth be told, I think I got lucky there, too."

He sighed. "Min, you don't get lucky against Lotus Assassins _twice_. Getting lucky once is nearly impossible by itself."

"I... guess," she conceded. And then, remembering why Jun sent her here, she said, "Father, Jun said I needed to tell you this, what happened to Two Rivers, and ask about Uncle Jong." Kia Min watched the expression on her father's face transform from hard contemplation to an uncomfortable bristle. No better way to get answers than to tackle the questions head-on, now. "Does Uncle Jong have anything to do with the Lotus Assassins?"

Silence. Her father stayed absolutely still, and Kia Min held her breath, not daring to even blink. She was going to get her answers, especially if...

"I was never on planning to tell you this," her father finally lamented. "But Jun has a point. Whatever you do from here, you need to know this about your uncle. And I'm not asking you to go after him; he's long lost to us, even if he does correspond with your mother once a year. He made his decision, and if he changed his mind, he'd be dead as soon as he says, 'I quit.'"

Kia Min smiled. "Is this a from the very beginning story?"

"Those are the best kind, aren't they?" said her father with a laugh. "But since you insist, when your uncle and I were kids, we were always competing with each other. If I did something exceptionally well, he would beat himself up to surpass me. He rarely did.

"Since I'm the older brother, I inherited our father's merchant stand. And I had a wife, and your brother was on the way, to boot. And that story... well, that's for another time, and another instance of competition."

Kia Min nearly laughed. "Don't tell me both of you were after Mother."

When her father didn't respond, Kia Min frowned. "... were you?"

"Another time," he said, "but it's all related anyway, in the end. So when your grandfather passed away, I took over his already lucrative business. I offered Jong a position here. A clerk, a traveling merchant like your friend Wayfarer Wei, whatever he wanted. Well, I had the job he wanted, and we both knew I wasn't about to give it up. So, he opened his own stand, his own business. Do you remember it?"

"Yes," said Kia Min, her mind flying back to her childhood days when she and Jun would frequent Jong's makeshift shop of goods traded by other merchants. His was not in a good of a shape as the Kia stand, and not nearly as organized, but there was some charm in the shop that attracted many of One Stone's children. He rarely had sweets, and never any toys, but his assortment of goods were exotic. Gems, from all across the Jade Empire, he boasted. No one else in One Stone had them, but no one in One Stone needed them for anything but ornamentation. "But it wasn't very successful."

Her father shrugged. "He made enough to live comfortably. He ate well and he never looked like he was struggling, in his attire and his modest living accommodations. That was, and still is, the Kia family trick, see. We don't spend money frivolously. Jong actually proved to be better at that than even me, but I suppose he didn't have a choice."

Kia Min frowned. "You don't think much of Uncle Jong, do you?"

"He's a good man who made some bad decisions," said her father. "And more than just..." He sighed. "Look, Min, my brother means a lot to me. He does. But he's a fool who thinks he's protecting us, but he's not."

"Protecting us?" Kia Min remembered Yao Hong's definition of protecting the people of Hehua and shudders ran down her spine. "What do you mean?"

Closing his eyes, he said, "A few years ago, a Lotus Assassin came through One Stone. None of us knew what he was at the time, much less why he was here, but we all had a very bad feeling about him. When he left, we knew that our troubles were just beginning.

"A few weeks later, that Assassin came back. Several merchants had been... inspected by him. Us included. You wouldn't remember; you had been off playing with the other children in the fields. Your mother made sure that you were out of the house and away from the shop when they came through. Fortunately, we were one of the last shops so we knew what was coming before it happened."

"Why were they inspecting the merchants?" asked Kia Min.

"We don't know. All I know is, the next day Jong told us he was leaving to join with the Lotus Assassins. That's when we found out what that man was. What Lotus Assassins were, and that they were not to be crossed. Jong told us everything. He had heard about them from the people he traded with, and he told us that anything could happen. Anything at all. And we may not be safe now that they've made two trips to One Stone, with many more possibly on the way.

"They offered him a job, he said. That the goods he had in stock were useful to them. That if he could stay on their good side, perhaps if anything ever did happen, we at least would be safe. After all he already told us about the Lotus Assassins, how could we think that this would do anything to protect us?"

Quietly, Kia Min realized, "The gems. They're more than just ornamentation?"

"Does it matter?" Her father sighed. "Jong left after that. We all agreed that the sooner he left with the Lotus Assassins, the better. At that point, if he declined, he would have died. If you ask me, he should have just given the Lotus Assassins his goods and come back to work for us, but..." He shook his head. "It was too late anyway. He had to go. But he insisted on keeping in touch with us."

This shocked Kia Min. "I never heard anything of that."

"No, you wouldn't have," said her father with a sigh. "We thought to protect you, if no one else. Jun had to know, just in case something happened, and your mother and I wouldn't be around to inform him of the details. But you... you have so many possibilities. But you needed to be able to protect yourself first." He smiled. "I didn't realize our decisions would be quite that effective."

Kia Min blushed and she turned away from her father. "I, um, thank you for that," she said. "Really, I truly do. But all this... because Uncle Jong joined the Lotus Assassins?" That by itself was too incredible to be true.

"He didn't join them. He works for them, but he is not a Lotus Assassin himself. He was quite clear about that, and so were they," said her father. "But we are not safe. He writes to us about once a year. He doesn't give us too many details. I don't even know where he is. And he's trying to be careful. The letter usually stops in several towns and villages before reaching One Stone, and passes many hands." He scowled. "Your mother responds, though. She's just as 'careful.' This is ridiculous."

Kia Min said nothing. Her uncle worked for the Lotus Assassins? And it was to protect herself from the Lotus Assassins that her brother first started training her, and that her parents sent her to Two Rivers? Lotus Assassins in One Stone, and at Two Rivers, and in Hehua...

Smiling Mountain always said that life was interconnected, that everyone must take special care to tend to all living creatures. His favoritism towards the Way of the Open Palm was obvious, and now Kia Min was starting to understand why.

"I have no hopes or expectations about your decisions from here on out, Min," said her father. "Your life is yours, now. Do what you will with it. You're more than prepared."

Kia Min shook her head. "But Father, I don't know what I want to do. Even now after knowing about what happened to Uncle Jong, why you sent me to Two Rivers. Everything is coming together and making sense, but I don't know what I can do with this information now."

He smiled. "Maybe this is your time to figure it out."


	10. Chen Yi

"Do you think I should tell Mother about..." Kia Min trailed off, and she cringed in her seat.

Her father sighed. "Could you handle telling the story for a third time?"

Kia Min considered this for a moment, and then she shook her head. "No. The first time was hard enough. It didn't get easier the second time."

He nodded. "Then don't tell her. Jun or I will let her know when it's appropriate. She has a lot on her mind already. No need to worry her further by letting her know you almost died. You're still alive. That's all she needs to know."

She fidgeted with the hems of her tunic and bit her lip. So many secrets the Kia family hid from each other to protect one another, she realized. Was this such a good idea? Everything was interconnected. Eventually, her mother would have to know. Would it be better to tell her sooner rather than later? And there were so many other things Kia Min wasn't telling them...

"Father," she said, "I... I never did get those letters..."

He smiled wryly. "I figured."

"I just wanted to let you know that I really would have come home regardless of what you said. Master Li would have let me-"

"Min-"

"-and I'd have stayed for as long as I needed to have stayed. Whether it be for a few days, or a year, or longer."

"What you mean to say is, you would have stayed until after I died." Kia Min could not interpret his sad tone. "Min, you would have come home, and I would have let you stay for as long as some peace could be made, and I would have sent you back. Don't worry about an old man like me. You're young, and you have your whole future ahead of you."

"Yes, but-"

"And I would have requested that your mother and brother would not have sent for you again until after I had died. For the funeral. And then I would have made sure you went right back to school, one way or another, as soon as the ceremonies were done."

"But Father-"

"It's my time, Min. If the heavens demand it, who am I to argue? When it's time for me to go, it's time. It's only natural. Your friends, the people of Two Rivers, it was not their time. You were needed there. And also at Hehua. You were needed there. You are not needed here."

She flinched; how could he say that? But she could not argue with him. "... how much time do you have, Father?" asked Kia Min hesitantly.

He chuckled and shrugged. "I never asked. Your mother did. She'd know. But don't let that affect your decisions. You must go where you are needed. One Stone is not it. Not right now. But it's a good resting place, at least, while you figure it out."

This wasn't right. This just wasn't right. "And how am I supposed to do that?" Kia Min asked, barely trying to hide the indignation in her voice.

"Well, what did your masters teach you?"

* * *

That was how Kia Min wound up back in the clearing in the woods the very next morning. She stood there, staff in hand, and she scanned the green foliage of the shrubs and the brown bark of the trees.

How long had it been since she really, truly meditated? Sometime before the morning of the bandit attack, she gathered; everything after had been so hectic, so chaotic, that taking a moment to breathe had been the last thing on her mind. But she had been running late to meet with Ni Joh that morning the bandits attacked. Student Si Pat really did not want to get in trouble his first week, and it took everything in Kia Min's arsenal to convince him to let her out.

She had forgotten how she had done it. She wondered if Si Pat ever regretted it after she had been injured, and she wondered how things would have been different if she had not been on the outlook that morning, or if she had been on time, or if she had been later.

Would Two Rivers still be standing?

Kia Min sighed. There was no purpose dwelling in "what ifs." She did not come here to live in the past; she came here to meditate on her future, whatever that may be. She knelt down on the grassy floor, placed her palms upon her thighs, and closed her eyes. As she took in a deep breath, her thoughts began to race wilder.

She was not needed in One Stone? How could her father _say_ that in the condition he was in? Without knowing where Wu and Dawn Star were, she had no idea where in the Jade Empire she was needed anyway, if not One Stone. So where better than home?

And it was not like she had done a perfectly splendid job at Hehua anyway. Yao Hong was dead, and he did not need to be. That was blood on her hands she could never wash clean. Then she wondered if she had only temporarily solved the problem, that perhaps the customer answered to a higher authority, and when that higher authority found out that he had died and why...

Wayfarer Wei and his family would be in great jeopardy. And, in turn, somehow, so would her family.

She _had_ to stay home. To protect her family.

Or, perhaps, go back to Hehua?

Kia Min frowned. Neither of those options felt right; they felt like an easy excuse to avoid what she really needed to do. But how on earth could she ever figure it out? She had merely stumbled into Hehua. She had not chosen to go there. And she had done no good in Two Rivers to have been any use to anyone anyway. Jing Woo had not listened to her when she told him to go hide, he was too injured to fight any longer, and now he was dead; and she had arrived at the Ni home too late to save Joh from the fight he never stood any chance of winning.

Should she have stayed with Jing Woo and the other last couple of students? Gao's mercenaries were tough, but they were not that difficult to defeat. Surely she could have fended them off with the help of the others, and made absolutely certain that Jing Woo did as she asked. Then he would still be alive, and perhaps he and Wu would be together right now. Perhaps Kia Min herself would have been with the senior student, doing some good in the Jade Empire.

But then she would not have wound up in Hehua. She would have never learned of her father's illness, and she might not have arrived home in time, and the couriers with the letters bidding her to come home would have returned to her parents with the grim news that everyone was dead, including her. And she would have never lived with herself without knowing whether or not Joh would have lived if she had not ventured out into the village to look for him.

Was this for the better, then?

A leaf crunched, and Kia Min's eyes flew open. She caught her breath as she saw a bloodied Imperial Army uniform-this could not be a good sign-and she trailed her eyes up to the intruder's face. His eyes were startled, frightened maybe, and as he hurriedly apologized, Kia Min realized she knew this man.

"Chen Yi?"

He stopped his bumbling, and he tilted his head and smiled with recognition. "Kia Min!" he exclaimed. "You're back from school already?"

Kia Min climbed to her feet; this man was not a warrior in any sense of the word. He was the same age as her brother, and his work was that of a farmer. "Yi, why are you wearing... that?"

And with blood stains and holes ripped through it...

Chen Yi blushed and looked away. "This thing?" he asked, tugging at the uniform and squirming. "It's... it's kind of a long story... but it doesn't matter now. I'm home. _Home_."

He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as he said this, but that answered none of Kia Min's questions or speculations. "Yi," she said, "what were you doing away from home to begin with? This isn't like you. Running off to go on an adventure..."

"I didn't!" Chen Yi exclaimed. "I... I didn't. Oh, Min, you weren't home yet when the Lotus Assassins marched through the village, were you?"

Kia Min widened her eyes. "The Lotus Assassins?" Again? Why didn't her father or brother say anything?

Chen Yi nodded sadly. "You say that with recognition. You know about them, now."

She bit her lip. "That's a long story, too," she said. She thought better about mentioning that she had no interest in telling it, not when she was trying to get Chen Yi to tell his.

"Stories dealing with Lotus Assassins often are," said Chen Yi. He took a deep breath, and he continued. "It was a couple weeks ago. They-the Lotus Assassins, and the army-were just marching through One Stone. They stopped for supplies, I think. They wanted nothing to do with the town otherwise. On their way out, one of the soldiers angered one of the Lotus Assassins with a clumsy stumble and was killed. That Assassin grabbed me from my work in the rice paddy and ordered me to put on the poor man's uniform. The next thing I knew, I was marching to Tien's Landing."

Chen Yi paused for a moment, and then he wailed, "I had to do it, you see? They would have killed me if I had protested. The Lotus Assassins are _evil_. They know no mercy, and they are dark, evil men. I knew it as soon as I saw them, and I knew it the moment they cut that man down, and I know it now."

"But," said Kia Min, "you escaped?"

Chen Yi smiled sheepishly. "Well, that's where the story gets incomplete, complicated, and... better. We were guarding a ruin somewhere. A dam, I think. The Lotus Assassins went in, and left some of us-the soldiers-outside the gate. We were to kill anybody who came by. I never wielded a sword, see, so when an intruder did come by, I stayed back and hid. I hid, and when that intruder fought and defeated the others, I begged and pleaded, and oh thank the heavens that _she_ knew mercy... she and her friend. Very kind women, both of them, and very strong, too."

"Who were they?"

"I don't know," said Chen Yi. "I never caught their names. But they were strong warriors, but they did not bear the marks of Lotus Assassins, or wear the uniform of the Imperial Army. They were headed into the ruins, but I don't know why. Maybe they were going to fight the Lotus Assassins in there, or maybe they were going to join them, but I doubt it. I hoped they survived, regardless."

He chuckled nervously. "They were quite... exquisitely beautiful, if you ask me. Charming, especially one of them. Quite a confident lady, she was. Her outfit was unusual, but though I barely knew her, it seemed to fit her... but," he laughed outright, "that's something for me to share with your brother more than you."

Kia Min had no reason to believe she knew who this woman was, but she felt something deep in her chest that she needed to pry out more information from this man. "I'm interested, though," she said. "I... maybe I know her?"

"A graduate from your school, you think?" asked Chen Yi, amused. "I suppose it's possible. Plum. Bare midriff. She wore boots to her thighs, and white cloth wrapped around her arms-"

"Wu!" Kia Min breathed as Chen Yi continued. She _knew_ it! "Yi, Yi," she hissed, and he stopped his starry-eyed memory and stared at her curiously. "Where did you say you met her? Where was she going?"

Chen Yi frowned. "Into the ruins of some sort. There's a dam in there. Lots of ghosts." Ghosts, of course! Dawn Star was with her, after all, that was the friend he spoke of. Wu would not go anywhere with ghosts without Dawn Star.

"But where? Which direction? How far away?"

"... you mean to go after her. You do know her."

Kia Min nodded. "She's a classmate of mine, from Two Rivers. Wu the Lotus Blossom is her name, and her friend was another classmate. Dawn Star."

Chen Yi smiled. "I knew they would have just as exquisitely beautiful names," he said to himself. "Tien's Landing. It was just outside Tien's Landing. A two or three day walk from here, I think." He paused. "You're going after them?"

Kia Min stopped to consider this for a moment. Her father asked her to go where she was needed. She was needed in Two Rivers, though she did little good out there; and she was needed in Hehua, and she fared better there. But her father was dying in One Stone; how could he say that she was not needed here?

But Wu and Dawn Star were in Tien's Landing. Fighting Lotus Assassins. Doing some good in the Jade Empire.

That was where she needed to go.

"Yes," she said. "It's where I'm needed."


	11. Tien's Landing

Four days later, Kia Min arrived at an old teahouse in Tien's Landing. It was in much better condition than the one in Hehua, and she wondered if the teahouse in Hehua had once looked as grand as this one did. She wondered if Yao Hong's soldier would take over the operations, or if someone else would. Would Wayfarer Wei?

The sun had begun to dip below the western horizon, and Kia Min ventured inside. She needed to find out if anybody knew anything of Wu and Dawn Star. She needed to know whether or not they were still in town and where she could find them if they were, and where she could start looking if they were not. She also wondered about the ruins Chen Yi had mentioned and why Wu and Dawn Star had gone there; the presence of the Lotus Assassins; and why they had come to Tien's Landing to begin with.

Aside from the one in Hehua, Kia Min had never been inside a teahouse before; the one in One Stone was no place for children, and the closest thing Two Rivers had was the little structure in Dawn Star's garden. Therefore, she was completely unprepared to dodge customers too involved in their conversations to notice she was in their path, and with a few bumps on the shoulder and more "Pardon me"'s, she staggered her way to the first booth of any form of authority.

"Hello, and welcome to Old Mother Kwan's Teahouse!" the man behind the counter chirped. His smile was unnaturally giddy, Kia Min noted. "I'm Steeper Yanru, how can I help you?"

"Hello," said Kia Min. "I was just wondering if you could help me find a couple of people. I was told they might be here in Tien's Landing."

Steeper Yanru laughed. "Even though the dam is closed, we're still not getting as many visitors to this town as we once did. No worries though, that will be remedied with time. They're probably still around, and easy to find, if they're recent visitors." He paused. "Come to think of it, I might even know who you're looking for."

"You might," said Kia Min. "They are the types to turn heads. Their names are Wu the Lotus Blossom and Dawn Star."

"Hmm," ventured Steeper Yanru as he stroked his chin. "Their names are awfully familiar. And it seems about right. Two women, about our age, one is in a, uh, what's the best phrase... exotic? Yeah, exotic-looking plum clothes with long black hair, kind of in a sloppy ponytail, and the other in scarlet robes?"

Kia Min smiled at the description of Wu. She had nearly forgotten how Wu often griped about the need to tie her hair up, to the point where she often lazily wrapped it in a ponytail with whatever spare ribbon she found laying around.

"Yes, they're the ones," said Kia Min. "Do you have any idea where I can find them?"

Steeper Yanru cringed. "Sorry, I haven't seen them for a couple of days now. They haven't come to the teahouse since getting back from the Great Southern Forest, I think. I have no idea why they went there. Maybe to do some more good to get Tien's Landing back on its feet, but why they'd venture out there is beyond me. They say it's haunted, and Lord Yun's been having problems." He shrugged. "They've been keeping camp just on the outskirts of town. There's an abandoned building, maybe you saw it on your way in? Or did you come in the direction of the forest?"

Kia Min shook her head. She knew the crumbling building he spoke of; there were burnt pieces of logs and an empty wine bottle, but nothing else. She had thought that peddlers or drunks made their camp there, but did it once belong to Wu and Dawn Star? And why wine?

"They weren't there," she said. "It looked empty."

"Really?" said Steeper Yanru with a frown. "Maybe they went off somewhere else? I'm not sure how much more they can do around here. They closed the dam, cleared the area of the pirates, and they must have done something in the Great Southern Forest. Maybe they finally decided to find real lodging? Old Mother Kwan offered many times, and I'm sure others have, too." A beat, and then he laughed. "Not Minister Sheng, though. Even though, he left just this morning for the Imperial City. He won't be back for at least a month, I'm guessing. If at all."

"Is there anyone I can ask who might know?" asked Kia Min impatiently. The sooner she knew where to start looking, the better. If they left town, she needed to leave now so that she could possibly catch up with them, wherever they went. If they were still in town, she doubted she could stand to wait the night to reunite with them.

"Well," said Steeper Yanru hesitantly, "Old Mother Kwan retired for the night. There used to be an ex-soldier roaming the teahouse who was in contact with them a lot, but she left a few days ago and hasn't been back. You could ask around town, though. Like I said, we haven't been getting a lot of visitors in Tien's Landing, and the fact that they aren't from around here makes them stand out quite a bit. Someone is sure to know. I'm sorry I can't help more. I only leave the teahouse to go home after we close."

Kia Min smiled. "Thank you," she said. "It did help." It did not, but at least she confirmed that Wu and Dawn Star had been here very recently.

So she left the counter, and she asked many different customers around the teahouse about the senior student; she quickly learned that most remembered Wu before they remembered Dawn Star. Dawn Star would have preferred it that way, Kia Min remembered. But Kia Min learned that it was not because Dawn Star was forgettable, because she was not, but often Wu would have others with her.

What others? Kia Min found herself wondering. At first she was hopeful, that perhaps they had lucked out in finding survivors, but as she heard the descriptions of the others she had in tow-a suspicious man in brown robes, a charming man in blue, and a large oaf who demanded wine and was instantly handed it-Kia Min knew that they had not. They had left Two Rivers, alone, perhaps thinking they were the only two survivors. Did they even try looking for her?

As Kia Min settled into a chair and ordered some tea, she knew that they would have if they had time. Master Li had been kidnapped, after all; perhaps Jing Woo had stayed alive long enough to tell at least that much? Or when they could not find Master Li in the village, they put two and two together? Or they were chasing after the people responsible, even.

Was that why they fought the Lotus Assassins?

The waitress handed Kia Min her tea, and she slowly sipped at the brown liquid. She had left One Stone with her father's blessing, even knowing that she was likely to run into more Lotus Assassins. Her mother was horrified; her father was _dying_ , how could she run off on an aimless adventure? But her father promised her that he'd talk to her mother, and he bid her farewell.

Kia Min almost did not leave when it sunk in that that was likely the last time she would ever see her father. It was Jun who gave her the final shove out of town.

"Surely the customer in Hehua was not the only Lotus Assassin dabbling about in slavery," he had said. "You said the senior student has a destiny? Maybe that's it. And maybe your destiny is to follow her. And that was why you survived. The gods would not let you live just to be with Father during his last days. They're always thinking of the bigger picture."

Kia Min glanced at the bamboo staff leaning against the table and smiled. Jun had lamented that she was leaving before her metal staff was completed, but they both knew it could not be helped. Besides, she had pointed out to him, she had managed to kill two Lotus Assassins and scores of mercenaries with the bamboo, and it was still in excellent condition. She could not turn her back on a weapon's faithfulness.

But why did Wu and Dawn Star fight the Lotus Assassins anyway? Revenge? Or maybe they were chasing after Master Li. Perhaps on their way to Tien's Landing they had discovered the same truths Kia Min had. Or were the Lotus Assassins doing more?

The townspeople all mentioned the dam with fervent relief and joy. The same dam that Chen Yi had been guarding, Kia Min knew. And Tien's Landing had been plagued with pirates that Wu and Dawn Star had taken care of? And the Great Southern Forest?

None of this was making any sense. Kia Min sighed. She either needed to find them, and fast, or get answers from the rest of the townspeople about the excursions they had gone through since arriving. Perhaps the others they had had in tow were still around?

She drank the rest of her tea and headed for the stairs to the second floor. She doubted she would have better luck, but it was late and anybody in town she could ask would be courtesans and their customers, if the town was as big as One Stone. She doubted that Wu would have had any dealings with them, but there was that wine bottle at their old campsite...

No. That must have belonged to someone else. She had at least three men with her from what Kia Min could gather, and Wu had expressed distaste for wine back in Two Rivers. Kia Min never understood how or why she tasted it to begin with, but with how Jing Woo reacted to the situation, he must have had something to do with it.

Nonetheless, upstairs was her last chance until the morning. Kia Min did not want to wait that much longer.

Before she could take one step up the stairs, she felt a hand grasp her wrist. Kia Min paused and turned to come face-to-face with the intruder. A woman, she saw, a woman with nimble limbs, a playful, smiling face with just a hint of a smirk, and with eyes that shone with excitement and wonder.

"You're the one asking about those warriors that were in town the past week or so, weren't you?" she asked. Kia Min did not respond, and the woman continued. "Of course you were! I've been in Tien's Landing too long to know who lives here, who was stranded here, and who was just passing through. You're of the last kind, looking for those who were similar. I can help."

"Um, thanks," Kia Min said quietly. "But, how do you... why are you...?"

The woman beamed brighter. Kia Min did not think that possible. "I know because I was watching her. Watching the people around her. And I'm wanting to help because it's about time I leave Tien's Landing myself, and I think you can help me.

"My name is Darting Lynx."


	12. Darting Lynx

Wu and Dawn Star were no longer in Tien's Landing, said Darting Lynx. They left for the Imperial City just two days ago.

Just as Kia Min leaped to her feet to find a way there, nearly knocking over the cup of tea Darting Lynx ordered for her, Darting Lynx grabbed her arm and said gently but urgently, "They left by flyer. And it would take a whole season to get to the Imperial City by foot, and there are no ships in port right now. There is little point in leaving right this second."

"Yes, but..." Kia Min trailed off. But what? What could she do?

Darting Lynx smiled weakly. "I have it on good authority that a ship will arrive with supplies within the next couple of days. It'll head up north after; we can get passage with them. I'm going to need your help to do it, though."

Kia Min sighed. That could not be her only option. Surely if Wu and Dawn Star could have left by flyer, Kia Min could find a way to do the same. But... "My help? Why me, and what help do you want?"

"I wish it were a simple matter of silver," said Darting Lynx, "and that while Tien's Landing suffered a recession and I was stranded here, I could not make the money necessary to travel to my next destination. I _am_ running low on my funds for food and lodging, but that is not the help I need. I want to get on that ship north. But the captain is notorious for not wanting performers as passengers. We're not exactly a lucrative bunch, you know."

"Performer?"

"I'm an acrobat." She grinned a proud grin. "I put on shows of feats of balance and precision, delicate routines to shock and amaze. I haven't put on any shows in Tien's Landing for some time, though, since I wound up stranded here and nobody was shocked and amazed by my feats anymore."

"But then, how did you manage to make enough to get by during your time here?" asked Kia Min. She glanced at her chair, but decided not to sit back down quite yet.

Darting Lynx laughed. "I do more than perform. I teach, too. Some of the sailors who were stranded here, before they became too disgruntled, were interested in learning new techniques for balance and speed. Your friend, the Lotus Blossom, she learned from me, too. Not to mention that I'm very frugal. I don't spend my silver unnecessarily. Which is easy when I don't make too much to begin with."

"So it _is_ silver you're needing."

"No," said Darting Lynx. "I have enough saved up for a voyage to the next port. I'm running low on my money for food and lodging, but not travel. But the captain of this particular ship won't take a performer by herself. I need a patron, a sponsor, of sorts. And you look like a warrior; he wouldn't deny someone who could pin him to the plank in one fell swoop."

Kia Min nodded slowly. Her request was reasonable, and a journey on a ship would be her quickest bet unless she could find another flyer, and she had no idea how she was going to go about doing that. "Well, why not just look for another flyer? That'll get us out of here in no time."

"Flyers are expensive and rare," said Darting Lynx. "Only nobles have them. Nobles and-" She lowered her voice. "-Lotus Assassins. Not to mention wind maps are even harder to get."

"Wu did it," said Kia Min.

"Yes, but you know your friend is something unique. So are you, but not in the same way. Besides, I know how she went about getting everything she needed. She left for the pirates' lair by Ru's barge and returned in a glorious flyer, and Ru returned alone. She went into the Great Southern Forest and came out with a wind map stuffed into her pouch. The pirates are gone and I doubt there are anymore flyers there; and whatever she did to get the wind map doesn't need to be taken care of anymore."

So that was it, then. Unless she was really, really lucky, that boat was her only option. "You need my help," said Kia Min. "What do I get in return?"

Darting Lynx grinned toothily. "That's more like it. How about this-I can teach you some balancing and speed techniques for free. You won't be disappointed, I promise you."

That sounded fair, but there was more Kia Min wanted to know. "How about that, _and_ you tell me why Wu and Dawn Star went to the Imperial City."

"I have to disappoint. I don't know why they went there. They never really told me. But they looked like two women on a mission, and the Lotus Blossom, I can tell, is going to be someone important. Minister Sheng left for the Imperial City right after they did. It wasn't too hard to figure out. Besides, all roads and all destinies lead to the Imperial City."

Kia Min froze. She remembered the last real conversation she had with Jing Woo before the casks fell and Two Rivers burned. He had said the same thing. "If Wu doesn't return before I graduate," he had said, "I'm going to the Imperial Arena and wait for her there. She'll wind up in the Imperial City, I know she will. After all, all destinies..."

She had gently laughed and nudged him with her elbow and accused him of being too much of a hopeless romantic. But now, she wondered: could there have been some truth to what he said? Was going to the Imperial City on an assumption worth the effort?

"So they do," she murmured. She slowly sat back down. "Alright, I'm going to trust you. And I'll help."

"Excellent!" said Darting Lynx as she clapped her hands. "To pass the time tomorrow, I'll teach you those techniques I was telling you about. In the meantime, you know what I'm doing here in Tien's Landing. I know what you're doing here in Tien's Landing. We really don't know much else about each other. I like to know my traveling companions."

"What do you want to know?"

"Why are you following the Lotus Blossom and her friends?"

"It's-" Kia Min hesitated. "It's a long story, really. But we were classmates. And you're right, she is on some sort of mission. I don't know what exactly, but it's important, and I... I want to help, however I can." She paused and spun her teacup in her hands. Should she...?

"That's noble," said Darting Lynx, impressed.

Kia Min nodded slowly. "Yes," she said. She should. "Would you happen to know anything about the Lotus Assassins that were around this area?" Or heaven forbid, still are.

Darting Lynx frowned. "Lotus Assassins?"

"Yes... a man from my town was here not too long ago, and that's how I knew to come here to find Wu and Dawn Star. He said something about the Lotus Assassins, and the dam and some ruins... would you happen to know anything about that? It would help me figure out what they're fighting, and why they're fighting them."

Darting Lynx shook her head. "Sorry, I don't know anything about the Lotus Assassins. I didn't even know they were here. Though that would explain why the Great Dam was suddenly opened and Minister Sheng was on edge since. Here, let me tell what I do know about Tien's Landing and your friends. Maybe that will help.

"My job often has me traveling across the countryside. Cityfolk tend to be less impressed with acrobatics than the country bumpkins. I came to Tien's Landing a couple of days before the Great Dam opened. It was a nice town, and I'm really happy to see it picking itself back up. The people didn't live in fear, and they were smiling more, and there were sailors here who had delivered supplies and were taking a longer time off than usual. A well-earned break, I overheard the captain say.

"I made a good amount of silver, and I was slated to stay in Tien's Landing for another couple of days when suddenly, the river... _drained_. It was the most bizzare thing. I didn't know what was going on at the time, but I soon found out. The sailors were stranded, and slowly the townspeople were falling into a panic. Minister Sheng was no help.

"Some people tried to leave Tien's Landing by foot, since water was no longer an option. But then rumors started to spread about people going missing, and soon those rumors weren't rumors anymore. Pirates, I would often hear. Pirates and slavers were running rampant just outside Tien's Landing. To leave would be selling yourself into forced labor. Not many would take their chances after that."

Kia Min breathed, "Slavers?" The customer in Hehua wasn't the only Lotus Assassin involved, then! Did the Lotus Assassins open the dam to drive the people of Tien's Landing into slavery?

Darting Lynx continued. "Lord Yun also made it clear that we couldn't get through the Great Southern Forest. Something about ghosts, I don't know. In short, anyone who was already here was staying, and anyone who wasn't already here wasn't coming. Until your friend showed up, and caused a bit of ruckus while she was here. Mostly good ruckus, I think, but she turned heads while she did it. She went into the ruins, and no one is really sure why or how, and by the end of the day the dam was closed, the sailors were gone, and the people remembered how to smile.

"She didn't stop there, though. One of the things that made her stand out was here incessantly asking for a wind map and a flyer. The pirates around here had them, so I saw her board Ru's barge to go upriver. According to two townspeople who had tried to flee Tien's Landing and were captured by the pirates, she cleared the pirates' lair and freed all the slaves who had been kept there. That's when she went into the Great Southern Forest, and when she came out, Lord Yun said something about the forest being safe for travel in a matter of days, and your friend, well, she left the next morning." Darting Lynx paused. "Did that help?"

Slaves and slave traders? Pirates? Open and safe travel? So that's what they were doing! Yes, yes, Kia Min knew now, she _must_ catch up with them. Her chance encounter with Wayfarer Wei in the swamps, her being present at Yao Hong's capture of Little Qing, her survival of Two Rivers-this must really be her purpose, her, dare she believe it, destiny. This could not be a coincidence.

"Yes," said Kia Min softly. "Yes, it did. So, we leave for the Imperial City in two days?"

"Two days," said Darting Lynx. "It will take us about a week by boat to get to the closest port to the Imperial City. From there, flyers. I'm sure with your skills you could barter your way onto a nobleman's flyer and get to the Imperial City within half a day. If not, it'll be about a month on foot."

Kia Min nodded. "Don't worry," she said. "I'll get on a flyer. I'll find a way. And I'll get to the Imperial City, and I will find Wu, and Dawn Star. Otherwise, what am I living for?"


	13. Golden River

After an entire day of hard lesson of balance and speed and agility, Kia Min and Darting Lynx made their way to the port where sailors were unloading and loading cargo and new merchants were setting up shop. With the number of townspeople swarmed by the docks, Kia Min felt like she was back in One Stone during harvest season, when the farmers came in from the fields with stocks of produce to sell for the upcoming cold winter. Darting Lynx even made a comment about it, noting that this was the most hustle and bustle she had ever seen Tien's Landing since arriving many weeks ago.

When Kia Min, with Darting Lynx in tow, asked the captain of the ship to passage to Golden River, the port Darting Lynx called the closest to the Imperial City, he shot one look at her bamboo staff and stepped aside. Kia Min met Darting Lynx's eye, and she smirked as though to say, "I told you so." A crew member hurried to their side to show them the way to their room, and there, for a whole week, the two women continued to teach each other and continued to learn about one another.

"So, you're an acrobat," said Kia Min their second day on the river over a bowl of soggy rice. "What made you get into it?"

"Well," said Darting Lynx as she swallowed her food, "when I was little, a team of acrobats came through my hometown. I was mesmerized, and I kind of stowed away in their caravan."

"You ran away?" asked Kia Min, and she knew it was impolite to gape like she did.

Darting Lynx laughed. "You assume I had a home to begin with. Don't really know or remember what happened to my mother. My father died of some lingering disease from the Long Drought just a month or two before."

"Oh," said Kia Min, cringing. "I'm sorry, I-"

"Don't be," said Darting Lynx with a casual shrug. "It was a long time ago. Anyway, I was running out of his secret stash of silver, and I was a day away from becoming a petty thief, a real street urchin. So this was for the better. Luckily, the leader of the group saw it my way, and became my master. I traveled and performed with the rest of the acrobats for a time, but it wasn't the best run group in the Empire. After my master died, well, we all dispersed, and that's how I came to travel alone. The rest, well, the rest is largely unimportant."

Kia Min nodded and toyed with her rice, thinking of what else to say. This gruel was practically like soup, she realized, and then she shook her head. "So, then, is Darting Lynx a stage name or...?"

"Stage name," said Darting Lynx. "I really don't even remember my real name anymore, to tell the truth. My master started calling me Darting Lynx early in my training, when he thought that I was a little too fast for my own good." She crinkled her face and said in a deep voice through her nose, "'You dart like a lynx, but you balance like a drunken frog!'"

Kia Min threw her head back and laughed.

* * *

The fourth evening, as Kia Min finished her meditations and Darting Lynx completed her final balancing exercises, Darting Lynx rolled in front of Kia Min and asked, "So, you and the Lotus Blossom were classmates, right? Where?"

"Two Rivers," said Kia Min, and she hoped that Darting Lynx would not ask why they left and would assume that they graduated. She had little interest in telling that story again. Twice was hard enough.

Darting Lynx considered this for a moment. "... nope. I've never performed there before. About where is it?"

"Near the south border of the Empire," said Kia Min. "It's a quiet town, really, and secluded. The only visitors are merchants. In the five years I'd been at the school, we never had any traveling performers come through."

"Oh, so you're not from Two Rivers, then?"

She shook her head. "One Stone."

Darting Lynx grinned. "One Stone, now _there_ I've been! Just last year, actually. But you wouldn't have been there. Five years in Two Rivers, I'm assuming you left there recently?"

Kia Min bit her lip. "Yes," she said slowly. "I did."

"To follow the Lotus Blossom." Kia Min nodded. "Do you mind if I ask why? I guess I kind of get why you are. She's doing some good in the Jade Empire, and you want to help out, but why? The glory? Admiration for her? Or do you know what's going on and have a personal stake in it?"

Kia Min hesitated before she said any of the reasons that came to her mind first. They were fighting Lotus Assassins, and they were freeing slaves and ending slavers, of which Lotus Assassins were a part of. Making the Jade Empire a better place. But then a word came to mind-revenge-and Kia Min quickly beat it down. There was no way she could track down the men who directly killed Ni Joh and his family, and she had already taken care of Jing Woo's murderer for Wu, but...

That was when Kia Min remembered the customer, and Yao Hong, Yao Hong's soldier, Wayfarer Wei and Little Qing, and Hehua.

"It's a long story," she started, "but I guess we have a couple more days until we reach Golden River. Okay. Let me tell you the story of after I left Two Rivers..."

* * *

Three days later, they came to port at Golden River. Kia Min tried to offer the captain of the ship some silver, but he raised a hand and told her that it was his pleasure; he wanted no trouble. Before Kia Min could insist, Darting Lynx gently pushed her along off the boat.

"Free passage, better than what I was expecting," said Darting Lynx. "Nobles are stingy, so you'll need all the silver you can get for the flyers. I'll help you out. I'll come to the Imperial City with you."

Kia Min frowned. "Why? You said that cityfolk aren't the greatest of customers, and you're low on silver."

"For food and lodging, yes, I'm low, but travel, I'm not. Besides, I learned a few new tricks since my last try through the Imperial City. Maybe I'll luck out this time and not have to deal with people treating me like a common beggar," said Darting Lynx with a wink. "Besides, after what you said about Hehua... I feel like I need to do something about it, too. I mean, that's the real reason you're out here, isn't it?"

Kia Min weighed her options. Darting Lynx was no warrior, she admitted that much, but she was resourceful and was more knowledgeable about the Jade Empire than Kia Min was. Not to mention that the company would be nice, and Darting Lynx would not be an unpleasant companion.

Finally, Kia Min nodded. "Alright, then. Come on, let's find us a nobleman with a flyer. Between the two of us, we should have more than enough."

They did not. Over the course of the next few days, nobleman after nobleman refused the offerings Kia Min and Darting Lynx gave. They never started with the total they had at Kia Min's insistence-bartering, she explained to Darting Lynx. Never let the merchant know exactly how much they had. The tactic was to no avail, and after the second night in the inn, Darting Lynx decided to begin doing shows in Golden River.

"It'll buy us a couple of days," she said. "Enough to keep a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs. I'll do this, and you keep trying the noblemen."

"Couldn't we just catch a merchant on his way to the Imperial City by foot?" asked Kia Min. "This is taking too long. What if they leave?"

Darting Lynx replied, "We'll lose more time in the long run if we go by foot. Don't worry. Within the week, we'll find our way there. Just keep asking around. Persistence is key. So is compromise."

And so Kia Min kept asking, and the noblemen still did not budge, though one had deliberately eyed her from head to toe as she tried to make her case. "Well," he had said, in a slimy voice, "I suppose we could come to _some_ arrangement..." But Kia Min was not yet desperate enough to compromise her dignity, and no amount of silver could change the noble's mind.

That night over dinner Darting Lynx jokingly suggested that they begin offering their bodies. "What man could possibly resist the charms of a flexible acrobat and a well-toned warrior?" She paused. "Well, I suppose I'd have to be the one offering my body. You'd be too intimidating for them, I would think. They'd think you'd kill them in the middle of the act."

Together the women laughed, and the very next day Kia Min trekked through the town. Every noble she saw she had bartered with once or twice before, now. Darting Lynx, if she was not already, would be running out of customers soon. No flyers had arrived to Golden River in the past couple of days, so unless one came in by the afternoon, Kia Min knew that their luck was out. She would have to find a new way to the Imperial City.

How long would it take by foot, Kia Min wondered. A month? Was that what Darting Lynx said? That would take too long, and if Wu and Dawn Star were not already departed from the Imperial City, the trail would be cold. She would be too late.

Kia Min sighed and stopped as she came to a crossroads within the town. All of this traveling, all of this intent, and this is what it comes to? Was Hehua her one purpose after all? It couldn't have been.

She could not give up.

"Excuse me, miss?"

Kia Min turned to face a young man in blue and green silks and a handsome demeanor. She frowned and reached for her staff; the nobles never approached her.

"Yes?" she said as she wrapped her hand around the cold bamboo and kept her eyes alert for any stray movements. Too many of these rich men in this port regarded her with disdain anymore, to the point where she almost feared that Darting Lynx's jests would have to come to fruition.

Her defenses were not subtle enough for this young man, and he took a step back. "I'm sorry, miss, but... you're the one trying to find a way to the Imperial City by flyer, right?"

"Right," said Kia Min slowly.

"Well, my father already refused you once, but he's caught up in business here and is having me go back to the Imperial City to take care of matters there. If... if you... and your friend... are still looking for a way to the Imperial City, I'll be glad to take you. No cost. I promise."

This had to be a trap. "Really," Kia Min said shortly.

"You don't trust me?"

"I've been turned down by everyone here in Golden River when I offered them silver. Why do you approach me now?"

The man blushed. "Well, it's... it's just that... I... hate to see a pretty young lady such as yourself stranded here when she could be in the Imperial City, as majestic as... as wonderful as..."

Kia Min took this in for a moment before she relaxed her shoulders and held her breath to keep from laughing. "And your father would have no problem with your doing such a favor for a couple of peasants?"

"He wouldn't have to know!" said the man. "Well, not that I'm afraid of telling him, but he doesn't have to know. I'm good at not letting him know things. So... do you want to go?"

Kia Min let a couple of chuckles loose and nodded. "Alright. When do you leave?"

* * *

The next morning, Kia Min and Darting Lynx packed what little belongings they had and paid the innkeeper the fees for the past few nights, and made their way through the port. Kia Min thought it unusual that they had to maneuver through the crowds more carefully than normal, and that she found it necessary to turn back to make sure Darting Lynx had not lost her. But perhaps this was a normal weekly routine, or monthly routine, of the city. She had not been in Golden River for very long to be sure.

Once they reached the hangar where the young nobleman had said to meet them, Darting Lynx turned to Kia Min and said with a grin, "I still can't believe you were able to get someone to agree to take us, and for free! Are you lying when you said you did it without violence or taking off your clothes?"

Kia Min smirked. "Oh, but a good merchant never reveals her secrets."

"But you're not a merchant."

"I could be, someday."

"You'd want that?"

Though Darting Lynx said that in jest, Kia Min added nothing more to their banter. Luckily, before her mind could stray and before Darting Lynx could divulge further, a voice boomed from the middle of the hangar.

Unfortunately, the voice belonged to a man whose robes Kia Min knew all too well.

"Lotus Assassin," she breathed.

"A traitor runs amuck in the Jade Empire in a flyer, and she is known to be armed and dangerous. The Scourge of the South comes to the heart of the Empire, and in the name of our new Emperor Sun Li, all air travel is prohibited until this traitor is caught."


	14. Stowaway

Darting Lynx refused to let Kia Min give up hope.

"We'll find another way out of here, and to the Imperial City as quickly as possible," she said as the nobles fretted in the hangar. Mumblings about how they would keep their interests and wealth with this kind of embargo permeated the area, but none complained too loudly. The Lotus Assassin had proclaimed a town-wide announcement, no doubt about Emperor Sun Hai's fate.

Kia Min fell to a crate and held her head in her hands. " _How_? If we can't go by air, and it takes too long by foot... we should have left Golden River the moment we stepped off the boat. Bought a cart, take turns driving it so we would never have to stop... we'd be halfway there by now."

"That's not how it works, Kia Min. We'd be no better off."

"We'd be _on our way_."

Darting Lynx was silent for a moment, and then she offered, "Well, your friend has a flyer. She can't go anywhere either. So we're not losing any time, not really."

"But what if the second we leave for the Imperial City in a flyer, she leaves the Imperial City in hers? The Imperial City has to be much bigger than Tien's Landing. I won't find another lead so easily."

"Well," said Darting Lynx slowly, "from the sounds of it, you had a chance meeting in One Stone to know that the Lotus Blossom was in Tien's Landing. One village in the vast empire. And then again at Tien's Landing. Fate is fate, Kia Min. Destiny cannot be challenged. You'll find your way to her, one way or another."

Kia Min waved her arms at the grounded flyers. "Not like this."

Darting Lynx sighed and mournfully replied, "No, I suppose not. Not like this. But we _will_ figure something out."

Kia Min said nothing, and she hung her head. Now what? Fate is fate, Darting Lynx said. But perhaps Kia Min had misinterpreted hers. Wu was lucky; whatever her destiny was, Master Li had prepared her well for it. She had no question about her path, and she knew what she had to do, where she needed to go. Kia Min had no such direction, and her way was murky at best.

Perhaps there was something else she needed to do in Tien's Landing. Maybe to help Wu, maybe to enforce what Kia Min had done in Hehua. But there were pirates and slavers Wu had taken care of near Tien's Landing. How could their two destinies not be woven together somehow? Or perhaps there was something seedier happening in Golden River? Maybe that was the reason why she was now stranded here.

Or, perhaps Kia Min had no great destiny after all. Maybe it had been pure luck she had survived the destruction of Two Rivers, and maybe it had been pure coincidence she wound up in Hehua and she had run into Chen Yi in One Stone. Maybe Wu's influence had been so great that of course she would have run into Darting Lynx as soon as she brought her up.

So, then, what was Kia Min doing so far away from home?

Darting Lynx said suddenly, "You know, I just thought of something we could do. It's risky, but you said you've fought Lotus Assassins before, right?"

Kia Min frowned. "Are you suggesting that we kill that Assassin and take his flyer? Because I don't know how to fly one."

"Neither do I, and that's not what I'm suggesting," said Darting Lynx. "But air travel is prohibited-by everyone but the Lotus Assassins. They are the exception to every rule. And this Assassin is clearly not staying too long. He's here to make his announcements, and then he'll leave. I'm betting his destination is to the Imperial City."

"So, what you're saying is-"

Darting Lynx grinned wickedly. "I've done it once as a little kid, I can do it now as a grown woman with skills unmatched. When the Lotus Assassin makes his address to the people of Golden River, we're sneaking onto his flyer."

Kia Min's mouth fell ajar, and she struggled with the right words to respond. "That's... that's ridiculous. Insane. Ludicrous. Lynx, we can't... that's..."

"You have a better option? It's risky, but he's one Lotus Assassin. He can't be any more skilled or high-ranking than the one you faced in Hehua. If he finds us, you can take him."

"But what if he finds us before we get to the Imperial City?" asked Kia Min. "What if he's not going to the Imperial City? And what if he's staying here indefinitely?"

Darting Lynx shrugged. "That's why I said it's risky. We don't know. But if this is what you're meant to do, if this is what the heavens and the gods demand of you, he'll be going to the Imperial City, and he'll leave as soon as he makes his address to Golden River. And he won't find us before we get to the City."

The crowd of disgruntled noblemen began to recede from the hangar, no doubt being led by the Lotus Assassin, for the man was nowhere in sight. Kia Min studied the flyer he had left behind-it was small and modest, not unlike a few of the ones she saw crashed into the hillsides in Two Rivers.

 _Wu._ She had to find Wu. If she knew nothing else, she still knew that she had to do that. And if this was her only option, then so be it.

"Alright," she said. "Let's go." She turned to grin at Darting Lynx. "Best idea I've heard all week."

Darting Lynx smiled widely, and the two hid behind crates while the guards cleared out the rest of the hangar. The guards, Kia Min saw between the wooden planks of the barrels, were half-heartedly doing their job, as they just skimmed around the area in a sweep of a small radius. Their faces, she saw, were more haunted than anything else, and Kia Min could not decide if it was because they already knew something about what happened to Emperor Sun Hai, or if it was because they had just been given some vague orders by that Lotus Assassin.

Now that she thought about it, what did happen to Emperor Sun Hai? And now the new emperor was Sun Li? That name sounded familiar. Perhaps she should have paid more attention to Old Ming; he would have known. A brother, a cousin, perhaps?

And didn't the emperor-the old emperor-have a daughter or something?

"Now's our chance," Darting Lynx whispered. "We have to go now before the guards make another sweep."

Kia Min shook herself out of her reverie. "Yes, okay."

Together the two women sneaked towards the Lotus Assassin's flyer and, after both peeked around to make sure no guard was in sight, Darting Lynx slowly lifted the hatch to the flyer. Kia Min cringed, but there was no creaking noise. Lotus Assassins must have the means to properly take care of these contraptions, she realized.

Before she could get too comfortable with the notion that this task would be a lot easier than she thought, both Kia Min and Darting Lynx froze as soon as they saw what was hiding inside the hull of the flyer. Ragged-looking people, some bleeding, some bruised, and all cringing at the daylight that now invaded their little prison. Not one dared to look at the ones who opened the flyer, and one man raised his shackled hands in protest.

"Oh, by the heavens," Kia Min whispered.

"P-please," the man whimpered, "please let me appeal to your sense of humanity-" The man opened an eye, and he lowered his hands. "You... you're not... you're not one of them! ... are you?"

"What's going on?" asked Darting Lynx. "Why are you all in here like this?"

"They're slaves," said Kia Min. She was right; there were more 'customers' like the one in Hehua. Hehua had not been alone in its plight. This is what would have happened to Little Qing and the others if Kia Min had not run into Wayfarer Wei in the swamp!

"Slaves?" But then Darting Lynx's attention was stolen by a stray movement from beyond the flyer, and she tugged at Kia Min's sleeve. "We have to get inside now, before they spot us!"

They hopped into the flyer and Darting Lynx very carefully shut the hatch behind them. Kia Min blinked a few times to adjust her eyesight quicker but to no avail. There was no windows or cracks to expose these poor people to light. She could not see a thing.

"And now there's no way out," said an older woman from the back. "You poor, foolish girls. What were you thinking, coming in here?"

Kia Min waited for Darting Lynx to say something, but she did not. She wished she could see her face to have some clue about what the acrobat was thinking. Maybe Darting Lynx regretted this decision? Or perhaps this was her first encounter with any prisoners, innocent especially.

But there was no turning back now. "We're trying to get to the Imperial City, and quickly," said Kia Min quietly. "This is our last option to get there, by stowing away."

"In a slaver's flyer?" said the same man as before. "You're either that foolish or that desperate."

Darting Lynx chuckled. "Desperation makes a wise man a fool."

"I suppose it does."

Another few tense moments silently passed, and Kia Min decided that if she was not going to meditate, she could at least try to get some questions answered. "Do you know if this flyer is going to the Imperial City?"

A few uncomfortable shuffles sounded through the flyer. "We... we don't know," said the man. "But does it really matter? Our lives are over as we know it. What does it matter to us if we're in a graveyard or a palace? And you... both of you... your lives are over as you know it, as well. By locking yourself in here with us, you've become one of us."

"A graveyard or a palace?" asked Darting Lynx. "It sounds like you do have a little bit of an idea of where we're going, and it is to the Imperial City, I'm betting."

"Does it matter? We're slaves now. Us, and you."

Kia Min felt a shoulder upon hers and hot, excited breath on her ear. "It _is_ the Imperial City, Kia Min, I promise you," Darting Lynx whispered. To everyone else, she said, "And we're not slaves. None of us are."

She jabbed Kia Min in the ribs, and if Kia Min could see, she knew what kind of look Darting Lynx would be giving her. To be fair, though, Kia Min did not need the look, or that jab in the ribs. She was already a few steps ahead of Darting Lynx.

"We'll get you out of here when we land at the Imperial City," she said. "I promise. I've fought Lotus Assassins and slavers before, and won. I'll take care of him, and my friend will sneak you into the vast crowds of the City so that they'll never find you, and then we'll find a way to get you home."

And with any luck, it would be with Wu the Lotus Blossom's help.

* * *

The enslaved farmers were hardly enthusiastic by Kia Min's promise of freedom, but at least Darting Lynx's presumption had been correct. They could not have been in the flyer for more than an hour before the Lotus Assassin returned and the flyer jolted back and forth and Kia Min heard tiny explosions around her. They were on their way to... somewhere.

Kia Min never asked how Darting Lynx knew that they were headed to the Imperial City, and no one spoke for the entire journey. She could only hope that Darting Lynx was right, and she could only hope that Wu would be easy to find once they reached the Imperial City, if the Imperial City was indeed their destination. How would Wu respond to seeing her? How would Dawn Star? Would they feel sheepish for forgetting about her, or would they be ecstatic that she had found her way to them? Or would they be appalled that she was there, as a reminder of a past they were trying to forget?

Did she really want to see _them_?

The flyer bumped violently a few hours later, and the noises and the swaying had come to a standstill. Kia Min jolted awake, and she cursed herself for falling asleep. She needed to be more alert for what was to come next.

Unfortunately, the Lotus Assassin had no sympathy for her grogginess, and a bright white light breached through the darkness of the flyer. Shadows of the farmers scooted away from the hatch clandestinely, and Kia Min reached for her bamboo staff.

It was time.

Kia Min lifted herself off the flyer floor, and as the white light transformed from crack to doorway, she launched herself towards it, staff unsheathed. She landed outside, and it was dusk, and her staff had swung and swept the Lotus Assassin off his feet, his skull cracking on the stone ground. As the blood pooled from his head, she thought briefly about whether she was getting more skilled, or if the element of surprise made this the easiest battle she ever fought against one of these monsters.

That was when she noticed a dozen more Lotus Assassins lined up by the flyer, and this time, all of them were armed with swords.


	15. Lotus Assassins

Kia Min swore, but the Lotus Assassins by the flyer were engaged in activities from idle conversation to monitoring other happenings about the vast and surprisingly empty port. This peace would not last long, for they all seemed to be waiting for this Lotus Assassin to finish unloading the imprisoned farmers within the flyer.

She quickly considered two options to tell Darting Lynx. Keep the farmers safe inside while she did battle, or get them out of there as quickly as possible? The numbers of the Lotus Assassins here were in the double digits, and she was only one warrior. The farmers had no skills. Darting Lynx was an acrobat and had admitted she never raised a fist against another soul. And not all of the Lotus Assassins would engage her in battle as the others escaped. There would be casualties.

No. There would not be. Not again. Not like Two Rivers. The innocents would live. She would make sure of it, even if it meant that she had met her fate at long last.

Kia Min gripped her staff. So be it.

"Lynx," she whispered, "help me get the farmers out of here."

"What?" came a surprised voice from within the flyer. "But..."

"I can't fight them all," said Kia Min. "And if I do fight them, I'll die, and so will you all if you stay in there. Or, you'll all be sold into slavery."

"So the way you see it, it's either slavery or death, or freedom or death," said Darting Lynx slowly. "I guess this is the better option. Alright. Let's get these poor people out of here."

The way Darting Lynx had put the options made Kia Min freeze for a moment. She had once wished that the Lotus Assassins who had come through Two Rivers had taken everyone prisoner instead of killing them all. At least they would still be alive, she had rationalized, and possible to rescue. But there was never a guarantee of that, was there?

She briefly imagined Ni Joh and his little sisters enslaved, and she could not bear the thought for longer than a second. No. Death was a sweeter freedom in this case. At least dignities would remain intact.

As Darting Lynx hopped out of the flyer and helped out the farmers inside, whose movements were all but hindered because of shackled hands and feet-this would be more difficult than Kia Min thought-one Lotus Assassin took notice of the abnormal behavior around the flyer. He widened his dark eyes and snarled, "The slaves are escaping! Get them!"

The others quickly snapped their attentions to the flyer and drew their swords. Not all of the farmers were out of the flyer yet. Kia Min sharply inhaled; this could be her last moment. All she needed to do was make sure that this was not the last of the farmers'. Darting Lynx could take care of the rest.

"Quickly, Lynx," said Kia Min as the first Lotus Assassin reached her. Bamboo was strong, she knew, but she rarely had the opportunity in Two Rivers to test its strength against sword. She dared not risk it yet. She could not be without weapon in this fight. Defense was her only option.

As the Lotus Assassin swung his sword at her neck, Kia Min ducked and swiped at his ankles with her staff. He rolled backwards some distance away from her, but he was largely unhurt. Kia Min took the opportunity to check on Darting Lynx's progress. All the farmers were out of the flyer and were struggling to run towards an opening in the far corner of the port. Darting Lynx led the way.

She wasn't in the back to make sure no one was killed behind her?

Two Lotus Assassins came at her this time, and she did her best to fend them off while keeping one eye open on the farmers. Sure enough, it was not long before Assassins headed their way with swords drawn, and Kia Min kicked one in the gut before she raced towards the farmers.

"Lynx!" she shouted to catch the acrobat's attention. Kia Min did not stay on her feet long enough to see if it had been effective; she gasped as her back suddenly seared with pain. As she fell to the ground, she rolled to her back and she cringed as the dirt stung into what she knew now was an open wound. A Lotus Assassin stood over her with the tip of his sword tinted red.

"Foolish, foolish girl," he said. "What did you hope to accomplish by freeing the slaves? Now they will die, and so will you."

Kia Min gritted her teeth. "No," she said, "they won't."

She hopped to her feet and thrust her staff towards the taunting Assassin, and she was surprised to see that she had moved just quickly enough that he could not dodge or retaliate. She swung again and again, and the Assassin fell to the ground, unconscious. Had Darting Lynx's training been that effective?

Darting Lynx... the farmers! Kia Min turned her attention back to the escaping group, and she saw two men slain and a woman's head rolling towards the exit the farmers were trying so hard to reach. No, _no_. She ignored the sharp pain in her back as she ran towards the remaining farmers, where some of them had chosen to fall to their knees to beg for mercy and others had continued making their way to freedom.

Where was Darting Lynx?

Kia Min ducked underneath an Assassin's sword about to come down upon a farmer's head, and she threw her staff onto the hilt of the sword and jammed a knee into his groin. As he doubled over, she jammed the tip of the staff through his chest. The staff was out before he hit the ground, and Kia Min turned her attention to another farmer about to be butchered by an Assassin. Again she blocked his killing blow, and again she retaliated, but then she heard an anguished yelp behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder to see a woman collapse, her face frozen in horrified pain, and blood gushing from her stomach. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening... she couldn't save them all. Could she save even one?

What had she done? Death was not a sweeter freedom. The farmers would have been safer in the flyer. They would have lived, and someone else, like Wu, could have rescued them. Wu would have done this differently, would have done this better, and she would have succeeded with flying colors, because she was Wu the Lotus Blossom. Wu the Lotus Blossom did not fail. Even when foolish, she did not fail.

As Kia Min dodged blow after blow of oncoming Assassin attacks-now she was surrounded by three of them-she remembered Two Rivers, and how she had fought to stay alive, because she was no use to anyone dead. How all the students fought to stay alive, to save the villagers later. But the students were all killed, and so were all the villagers. Master Li was taken away, and Two Rivers burned to the ground. And Kia Min could not do a thing about it. She had survived long enough to see Wu and Dawn Star return to the destruction, and she had survived long enough to find Ni Joh's broken body, and she had survived long enough to see that there had only been three survivors.

She had been no use to anyone alive. And now she was fighting for her life again, but instead of one Lotus Assassin to one student, she had three-now four, and now five-against her, by herself. And instead of parrying between defense and offense like she had in Two Rivers, she only dodged and she only blocked. She had no room to parry.

The new students always were defeated even by the weakest of their peers when they stayed on the defensive. Kia Min knew she stood no chance of surviving now. In Hehua, when she declared that she would rather die fighting than running, she meant it, but she also knew that she would win. Here, when she chose to fight, knowing her chances were slim, she realized she had counted on those slim chances.

This was not how she wanted to go.

Kia Min cried out, and she felt something through her, and she glanced down to see a sword through her side. As the sword withdrew, she grasped at the wound with one hand while keeping the other tightly wrapped around her staff as she swung wildly at the other Assassins around her as she felt blow after blow upon her body.

This was how she was going to go.

The world around her darkened, and she collapsed to the ground. She saw a flash of green trees and weeds overlooking a calm river, and a young boy in white farmer robes, their hands entwined.

And then she saw no more.


	16. Dr. An

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've read my other fic, "The Garden of Two Rivers," some things will seem familiar in this chapter. "Bamboo" and "Garden" are supposed to be in-"canon" with each other, after all. However, if you haven't read "Garden," fear not, because "Bamboo" is still stand-alone and everything will still make sense.

_As the sailors lowered the anchor into the shallow river, Kia Min took in her first view of her new home for the next few years. There were no docks-the sailors began lowering a small rowboat with the traveling merchant's goods into the water. Now it made sense why that merchant had been the only other passenger. This town was not nearly big enough to support more than that._

 _No, no docks, just a beach with a statue-of an emperor?-and an old man sweeping the beach and a middle-aged man waiting impatiently at the shore. He must be the sole merchant of the town, Kia Min realized. Two Rivers was a far cry from One Stone._

 _She would not fit in._

* * *

The sharp scent of incense burned through Kia Min's nose, and she opened her eyes to see a small wispy cloud of smoke dance against a dark, wooden ceiling. Her head drummed, and her neck felt pasted together, and it took all she had to trail her eyes to the side to see a woman in a purple hat and strangely white eyes standing by her side.

"Go back to sleep," said the woman.

Kia Min felt a sharp, pointed force in her arm, and then her eyes became too heavy to keep open. She had no choice but to do as the woman commanded.

 __

* * *

 _Clad in the school's uniform, Kia Min left her new master's house and decided to take his advice and watch the other matches happening during the course of the afternoon. She would learn the basics in the morning. She barely took more than five steps towards the center sparring ring when a girl approached her with untamed hair and a bright smile._

 _"You're the new student, aren't you?" asked the girl excitedly._

 _Kia Min smiled back and sheepishly nodded. "Yes."_

 _"Want to spar?"_

 _The question caught Kia Min off guard, and she opened and closed her mouth a few times before eloquently managing, "What?"_

 _The girl did not back down. "Let's spar!"_

 _Kia Min glanced back towards Master Li's house in time to see him close the door with another student inside. Private tutoring. He mentioned he would do some of that. Still, he had told her that she should watch others fight so she could at least see the style before learning it. Kia Min had no interest disobeying her master on her first day._

 _"I'm not sure if I'm allowed to," she said. "I just got here, and Master Li asked me to watch the others spar..."_

 _"Oh, come on," said the girl. "I think we both know that's not how you really want to spend your first day. And if there's trouble to be had, I'll take the blame for it. Let's spar!"_

 _Kia Min stole another glance towards Master Li's house, and then to the match in the center sparring ring, and back to the girl. Well, what could one match hurt?_

 _"Okay," she said. "Let's spar. My name is Kia Min, by the way."_

 _"Wu," said the girl. "I'm Wu."_

* * *

Kia Min could not open her eyes the next time she awoke, though the piercing scent of the incense still penetrated her nostrils. Where was she?

"Will she be alright, Dr. An?" Kia Min heard another woman say. That voice was oddly very familiar. Not Wu, though. She knew that much. But who else? Dawn Star, maybe? Lin, even? And who was Dr. An? The only doctors Two Rivers ever needed were Master Li and Smiling Mountain.

No, she was not in Two Rivers.

"Her wounds are healing," said another voice. Older, more refined, and delicate. "And I've done all I can to make sure she doesn't suffer too much pain."

Who were they talking about?

"How many more days before you'll let her regain her consciousness?"

A sigh. "I've only had to deal with patients with injuries of this magnitude twice. I'm not as well-versed in this as I would like to be. I'm an acupuncturist first, a medic second, and a harborer for fugitives never."

"... thank you, by the way," the younger voice sounded embarrassed this time.

The older woman laughed. "You are enemies of the Lotus Assassins now. You are the exact fugitives I will be forever at peace with hiding."

As "Lotus Assassins" began to register and flashes of red pierced through her mind, she felt a sharp pain in her side, and she drifted off to sleep once more.

 __

* * *

 _Kia Min could not believe that Jing Woo had managed-and dared-to offend Merchant Fen Do_ again _. Though she supposed nobody was really at fault; Jing Woo was still adjusting to living an honest life, and Two Rivers was completely devoid of street urchins, so Fen Do never had to deal with one before Jing Woo stumbled into town. The alternative could be worse. Jing Woo could be stealing from Fen Do instead of bartering down the man's prices._

 _Still, they were both learning. Jing Woo had awkwardly asked her to run this favor, and Fen Do had said, "Tell him I'm sorry for the cross words I said to him yesterday. He's always welcome to buy from me anytime. So long as he quits trying to convince me to cut my prices for him. I'm legitimately worried that the others in this town will take from his example. What's a poor merchant to do if that happens?"_

 _As Kia Min left the merchant after giving him Jing Woo's silver, she collided into a boy wearing white farmer garments with dirt and mud stained from foot to knee. The boy quickly bowed to her and stuttered a clumsy apology._

 _"I'm... I'm sorry!" said the boy. "I'm in a bit of a rush and I wasn't looking where I was going-"_

 _"No, it's fine," said Kia Min, fighting off annoyance and any cross words on her tongue. "Just... you should probably go back to what you were doing."_

 _"Yes, of course," said the boy, but when he straightened to look her in the eye, his panicky demeanor melted into recognition and a spark of excitement. "Hey, you're a student at the school here, aren't you?" Kia Min frowned, but nodded. "That's great! I've been wondering... and maybe you can help me... but do you happen to know how I could become one of Master Li's pupils? I mean, I'll follow my father's footsteps and become a farmer, like I'm supposed to, but I want to, you know, learn how to fight on the side."_

 _Kia Min smiled softly. "I'm... sorry, but I doubt that Master Li trains students 'on the side.' The training is pretty intense. Why are you interested, anyway? Two Rivers is peaceful enough."_

 _The boy shrugged. "You can never be too prepared?" he offered._

 _Kia Min considered this for a moment. "That... is very true." And then an idea crossed her mind-but did she dare? No, no, Master Li would not allow her to teach another. He only let Wu teach Jing Woo because Wu was at that level; Kia Min still had some ways to go. But, there was something about this boy, and she had no interest in turning him away herself. "How about this: I'll do some of my basics and my meditations... out at the outlook, and you can watch and maybe you'll be able to pick up some things?"_

 _The boy's face brightened. "Really? That would be... that would be more than enough! Thank you! Thank you so much!"_

 _"What's your name?"_

 _"Ni Joh."_

* * *

Kia Min studied the wisps of cloud the smoke from the incense against the dark wood. She watched the white swirl delicately around itself as it drifted further and further away from its source, before slowly vanishing into nothingness.

Ni Joh. Ni Joh was gone now. So was Two Rivers. Wu had disappeared into the vast Jade Empire, and Kia Min knew not where she was.

She should be dead.

"You're finally awake," came a voice at her side. Kia Min turned her head to see an older woman with empty, white eyes. "I'm glad to see you pulled through. Your friend will be, too."

Friend...?

"Thank you," said Kia Min uncertainly. "But where am I?"

"In my home," said the woman. "My name is Dr. An. I'm an acupuncturist but I make my living caring for the wounded warriors in the Imperial Arena. And you are Kia Min, I am told."

Kia Min nodded hesitantly. "Yes," she said. "But how did I get here?"

"Your friend, Darting Lynx, brought you here a few days ago. She had some minor injuries but nothing significant. You were in far worse condition. Had she arrived here a minute later and I doubt anybody could do any good for you. From what I'm told, you're a woman of luck and chance."

Darting Lynx... the farmers! Kia Min shot up but she cringed and held her side as she hissed and whimpered.

"You're not completely healed yet," said Dr. An. "But you are out of any immediate danger. It will be some time before you will be back at full capacity."

Kia Min remembered the sword that had driven through her, and she remembered the fallen farmers. "Where is she? Where is Lynx? Did she tell you by chance what happened?"

Dr. An shook her head. "Darting Lynx went to go fetch some food. Don't worry; she assured me she went out in disguise, so that the Lotus Assassins would not arrest her on sight. That is all she would tell me, though, that you're on the run from the Lotus Assassins. She was mostly concerned for your well-being."

Kia Min frowned. That was not helpful. "So how did I survive? I was sure that-"

She should be dead.

Dr. An smiled warmly. "Why don't you get some rest? You've been delirious the past couple of days, in and out of consciousness, mumbling all the while."

Joh. Joh. She should be dead. "I don't understand-"

"When Darting Lynx gets back, I'm sure she'll tell you everything," said Dr. An. "For now, get some rest."

Kia Min sighed and laid back down, staring up once again at the dark wooden ceiling and thin swirls of incense smoke. For a moment, the colors changed to a red sky and black smoke, and Kia Min closed her eyes to rid herself of the memory. Oh, Ni Joh.

Why did she survive three times now? The first time had been luck, a careless error on part of the Lotus Assassin that she had been fortunate enough to catch. The second time... she could not account for the second time. And this third time... this third time she _should_ have died. This third time had been pure luck. Luck! No destiny, no fate, just pure coincidence. How could she hope to track down Wu if luck was the only reason she lived?

Wait. "Doctor, what did you say you did for a living?"

"I treat the wounded warriors in the arena," said Dr. An simply. "Though most of the time the wounds I deal with are a simple matter of bruises and scratches. Promoter Qui is generally very good about having fighters face the Ravager. Though-" She smiled. "-I suppose that's hardly a problem anymore."

Kia Min said quietly, "The Imperial Arena, did you say?"

"The Imperial Arena, yes. There's only one arena here in the Imperial City, after all."

The Imperial City! Kia Min had not been blindly following some wishful notion of destiny-this was what she was meant to do, this was where she was meant to be! And her surviving the Lotus Assassins a third time-not luck! Divine intervention, perhaps?

"Doctor, how much longer before I can-"

"Within a day you'll be able to walk around. You won't be able to fight or do any vigorous activities for a little while longer than that, unless you have an extremely high tolerance for pain, have no problems developing a scar on your abdomen, and can guarantee your way back to me so I can fix you up. Otherwise, you'll be facing permanent damage."

Kia Min nodded; she had heard this speech before from both Master Li and Smiling Mountain after the bandit attack. But then Wu had procured that poultice for her, and she had survived the destruction of Two Rivers because of it. She would be dead right now had it not been for Wu. And now that she was in the Imperial City, Kia Min could find her and begin repaying the senior student however she could.

"I have to find someone," said Kia Min. "It's why I'm here."

"The Imperial City is very, very big," said Dr. An. "I only travel between the arena and my home, and the only people I know are the fighters and administration of the arena."

"You wouldn't know who I'm looking for, then," said Kia Min. If Jing Woo had told his plans to join the Imperial Arena to Wu, she doubted that Wu would have stepped foot inside. Of course, Wu always had been much, much stronger than that.

"Is this person not a warrior?"

"She is."

"Then there is a good chance I might know of whom you speak. Not many warriors who come through the Imperial City can resist the lures of the arena."

Kia Min smiled wryly. "She might have been able to." But then, Kia Min knew, Wu might not have been able to at all. Fighting was all Wu had left. Fighting was all any of the Two Rivers survivors had left. And perhaps Wu had not been able to resist, as it was her last connection to Jing Woo. "Do you know Wu the Lotus Blossom?"

Dr. An's face brightened. "Oh, you must be quite new to the Imperial City, then! The Lotus Blossom is the current champion of the Imperial Arena, and she made quite the impression on everyone in the arena."

Yes! "Do you know where she is now?" asked Kia Min.

"No," said Dr. An, "I don't. I've heard lots of different rumors regarding her whereabouts, but none of it is believable. I doubt she would have joined the Lotus Assassins."

Kia Min laughed. "No. She wouldn't have. Do you suppose she's still in the Imperial City, then?"

"I have no reason to believe she's not," said Dr. An. "She hasn't been around the Imperial Arena in a couple of weeks, but Qui the Promoter will call her back if a fighter comes to challenge her title. Until Iron Soldier refines his skills, I doubt anyone could-or would want to-challenge her."

An idea came to Kia Min; she knew how she could find Wu at long last. "Do you think you could introduce me to the promoter?"

"I wouldn't recommend you fighting in the arena for at least another couple of weeks-"

"No, no," said Kia Min. "I don't need to fight. But if the promoter can call Wu to the arena whenever she was needed to defend her title, then that's all I need."

Dr. An smiled. "Then, yes, I can help you. For now, you must get some rest."

And Kia Min had her first peaceful sleep since the bandit attack on Two Rivers those many, many weeks ago.


	17. Crossroads

The next time Kia Min woke up, Darting Lynx was the one who sat at her bedside with an uncharacteristically solemn stare and wringing her hands in her robes. Darting Lynx noticed Kia Min stirring, and she pushed her stool back an inch as Kia Min sat up.

"Before you say anything—" she started, but Kia Min cut her off with a simple shake of her head and a wave of her hand.

"I... I really wasn't planning on saying anything," said Kia Min. "I just woke up."

Darting Lynx offered an uncomfortable smile. "Dr. An says you'll be fine..."

"I feel fine," said Kia Min. She could not decide if it was because she took care in sitting up that she did not notice the pain in her abdomen or if the doctor had prescribed her something to dull it. Nonetheless, she felt perfectly okay, though she doubted she could do anything too crazy. What was the name of that poultice Wu had bought for her again?

"Good," said Darting Lynx quietly. "I'm... glad."

A heavy silence drifted between the two, and Kia Min watched as Darting Lynx refused to meet her eyes, refused to look anywhere but the floor. The acrobat bit her lip and gripped and caressed the sides of the stool. Kia Min frowned. Why was she acting this way?

"Lynx," said Kia Min slowly, "what happened?"

Darting Lynx flinched and closed her eyes. "With... the farmers?"

Kia Min drew in a sharp breath. The farmers. The Lotus Assassins. How she had nearly died, how she had looked for Darting Lynx and could not find her. How had she wound up in Dr. An's office, alive and in the perfect position to find Wu the Lotus Blossom at long last.

"Yes," said Kia Min, "with the farmers. And after. Did..." And with that, Kia Min took her first real glance around Dr. An's office. There was the incense stick on the desk, burning, and another bed on the other side of the room, empty. Empty. Kia Min saw a woman's heading rolling on the hangar floor, and she reached for Darting Lynx's arm. "Are there other rooms here?"

"No—"

"What happened to the farmers? Where are they?"

Darting Lynx took in a deep breath, and then another, her eyes closed and distressed. "Dead," she said quietly, finally. "They're all dead."

No. No, no, _no_. Kia Min had already known, had already dreaded, but this... "They're all... but how? Why?"

Darting Lynx smiled ironically. "You know why, Kia Min. The Lotus Assassins saw them as too much trouble. If they ran once, they would have run again, or so the Assassins saw it. They killed them all. There wasn't anything either of us could have done without getting killed ourselves. Which—" She sighed. "—you seemed set on accomplishing. And even then, your death would not have done any good for anybody, either."

"But I should be dead," said Kia Min. "There was no escape for me. How did I survive that? Why did I survive it and no one else did? And how did you survive?"

Darting Lynx turned away. "They left you for dead."

Kia Min stared incredulously. "They left me for dead?"

This wasn't Two Rivers; there was not going to be another swarm of people to 'clean up' after the Lotus Assassins. The Assassins that had surrounded Kia Min back in the hangar had not been careful to make sure her death would be long and painful. She had been a nuisance, she knew, that had to be eliminated immediately, for they had no time to deal with her the way that might have otherwise liked. There had been a handful of them against her, not the customer against Jing Woo in Two Rivers.

"Yes," said Darting Lynx with a nod. She stood. "I'll go get you some tea."

Kia Min narrowed her eyes. Something was wrong. "Lynx," she said firmly, "how did we survive? _Honestly_."

Darting Lynx stopped halfway to the door, but she did not turn to face Kia Min. "Honestly, they left you for dead. You were passed out, bleeding, and barely breathing. They knew you had only minutes left. Then they focused on the farmers. I was only able to save you."

"But where were you?" Darting Lynx made no sound, no movement. "Lynx..."

"I hid," she said. "I am no warrior. I could not fight them. I could not save the farmers. You are the one who had to survive. So you were the one I saved when I saw the chance to. I picked you up, and I ran, and I found Dr. An's place... I don't even know how... and I thought you were dead until she..."

Darting Lynx spun and faced Kia Min, her face covered in angry shame. "Yes, I let the farmers die to save you. And yes, I hid. What other options did I have other than to die? I didn't come to the Imperial City to be killed, and neither did you! The farmers... they perhaps didn't deserve to but their lives were over anyway. It's like you said. Death is a far sweeter freedom."

"I never said that," Kia Min hissed.

"Didn't you?" Darting Lynx sighed. "Kia Min, I—I did try to get them out of there. To the very end, I tried, but when everyone I tried to lead to safety were quickly cut down... what other choice did I have? I... I don't want to die. Not yet. I'm not ready for that."

Kia Min gritted her teeth and climbed out of the bed. "And you think the farmers _were_?"

"They were before we showed up in that flyer."

"That was _your_ idea."

"I didn't know that the Lotus Assassin would have kept slaves in his flyer for transportation. But that doesn't matter now. We're in the Imperial City. Alive. So you can follow the Lotus Blossom on whatever adventure she takes to save the Jade Empire next. Are you saying you would rather be dead, killed so close to achieving your goal at long last?"

"I—" Kia Min started. So that was how she survived. Darting Lynx had sacrificed the farmers to save her. Innocents had died so she could live. Innocents who did not need to be dead, who could still be alive and possible to rescue, so she could find the senior student and save the Jade Empire from the Lotus Assassins and their slaving ways? So she could feel like her survival in Two Rivers meant something?

Surely the gods intended for her to be in this room, now, alive and breathing and in the Imperial City, and surely that was why they had led her to Darting Lynx. But did the farmers had to have died? Was that a necessary sacrifice? A dozen people for one life.

Was that any better than an entire village for one man?

That had been the Lotus Assassins' call. And so had this been Darting Lynx's. No one else had had any say in the matter. Master Li had given himself up to the Lotus Assassins for the hope that the village would be spared, but everyone had been killed anyway. How many lives is the life of one person worth, and how dare anyone make that decision for the ones who would live and for the ones who would die?

"I should be dead," said Kia Min quietly.

"You should be _alive_ ," said Darting Lynx.

"Dead," said Kia Min. "I survived that, and many others did not. You made that decision for me, and for them."

Darting Lynx narrowed her eyes. "You say that like you would have preferred I left you for dead. I had no reason to have been successful in rescuing just you alone. Yes, I'm quick and nimble, but I did not do this behind the Lotus Assassins' backs. They saw me come retrieve you, and they reacted. The farmers were all dead or dying by then anyway. I had no reason to run out of there with as few injuries as I did—I had no reason to run out of there at all. It's nothing short of miraculous. This clearly was not just my decision."

Kia Min sighed. "If you say it was fate..."

"I'm not saying it is, but I'm not saying it isn't. Think about it, Kia Min. Your entire journey has been accidental so far. You've been in the right place at the right time. And the one time you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, you survived when everyone involved should have died. Two of us lived. And now you're where you need to be. Maybe it's fate. Maybe it's the gods. But don't tell me you're going to waste this opportunity because you lived and others did not. Make some good out of this. Make their deaths not in vain."

Kia Min growled, "I already am. Lynx, I'm already living when others have died unnecessarily. I'm already trying to make some good out of my survival. And as for their deaths not being in vain, well. That's what I'm out here to do. That's why I'm looking for Wu, and that's why I'm here."

A thought hit Kia Min then—would her death in the hangar have meant that Ni Joh, and Jing Woo, and all the students and all the villagers would have died in vain? No. That wasn't right. Wu. Wu was the reason for all of this. Wu lived. Wu had been away at the time Two Rivers was burning, been away to track down the kidnapped Dawn Star—the fates served her, like Master Li always said.

So if the fates served Wu the Lotus Blossom, and if Kia Min was meant to be at her side, did that mean...?

"I'm supposed to be alive," Kia Min said quietly. "But not for me. I have to find Wu."

Kia Min searched the room for her clothing. She was in the Imperial City; she could not waste anymore time. The senior student was here, and Kia Min needed to go to her. She was not sure why she was needed, but she knew that she was, and the quicker she found Wu the better.

Still, Darting Lynx stood in the doorway, and she said, "Kia Min, what happened when you left Two Rivers?"

"What?" Kia Min glanced up at the acrobat but kept rummaging through Dr. An's office.

"What happened at Two Rivers? Or after, or before? You make it seem like something with the farmers has happened before. If I had to hazard a guess, I'm guessing it happened at Two Rivers."

Kia Min paused for a moment, and she shook her head. No. Darting Lynx had no reason to know. There was no purpose in telling her. She didn't deserve it.

"It's—" she started, but a loud and clear voice resounded from outside the window that stopped Kia Min and Darting Lynx from any further discussion.

"Sun Li the Glorious Strategist is dead. Long live Empress Sun Lian the Heavenly Lily!"


	18. Empress Sun Lian

Dr. An returned to her office shortly after the announcement and told Kia Min and Darting Lynx that the new empress would be addressing her people within the hour. Dr. An brought new clothes for Kia Min from the Imperial Arena, generously donated by a student from the Black Leopard School, for her clothes were much too torn and much too bloody.

"He was a kind-hearted student," said Dr. An, "and one who frequents the arena. He didn't ask twice when I told him that I had a patient in need of clothes."

"Thank you," Kia Min managed, and as she changed into the borrowed robes she wondered where she had heard Black Leopard before. Was it back in One Stone, or in the passing through Golden River or Tien's Landing? No, it could not have been recently, it seemed too much like a distant memory. Two Rivers, then? Or...

 _Wen_. Kia Min froze. He had family here in the Imperial City, she remembered him saying. Family who had sent him to Two Rivers to be safe from the politics of the Imperial City.

She quickly shook it off, and Dr. An said, "I suggest that we go to the ceremony. It's been a long time since we had one of the Sun family make a public appearance like this, since the empress was a child, if I remember correctly. Darting Lynx, do you think that you could fix Kia Min up in a good disguise to keep hidden from the Lotus Assassins?"

Darting Lynx opened her mouth, but Kia Min cut in, "Dr. An, I really can't go. I shouldn't go. I have to-"

Dr. An smiled. "I know. You want to find Wu the Lotus Blossom. And it would be a good time, too, since everyone in the Imperial City will be at the ceremony. But don't you think she would be there too?"

"We could also hide from the Lotus Assassins easier," said Darting Lynx.

Kia Min shook her head. "No. I've waited too long, wasted too much time... what if she leaves during the ceremony?"

"For what purpose?" asked Dr. An. "I doubt she has reason to leave the Imperial City so surreptitiously. Or obviously. Darting Lynx has a point. It will be easier to find people who aren't at the empress's address, and the Lotus Assassins know it, and Wu the Lotus Blossom knows it. Who says she's not trying to keep from being noticed, either?"

"Kia Min, let's just go to the address," said Darting Lynx. "At the very least, maybe we'll get some of our questions answered. I'm particularly interested in why none of the Sun family can seem to stay alive, and why the empress's uncle took succession before she did. And I know you have a lot of your own questions to be answered as well."

Kia Min shot a glare at Darting Lynx, but she said nothing. She did not like this, but both Darting Lynx and Dr. An made sense... for anyone but Wu the Lotus Blossom. If Wu had something to do, she would do it now rather than later. Now, while everybody in the city was distracted; now, while no one was looking except for the Lotus Assassins, and she would find a way around them as well. Wu was too stubborn to do anything else.

The problem was that Kia Min had no idea where to begin. The Imperial City was big, so she heard from Wen and Darting Lynx and many merchants traveling through One Stone. Wu could be anywhere, for any purpose, and Kia Min could not start just anywhere.

But if Kia Min had this habit of walking into her answers, maybe this address would be another one of those opportunities.

"Alright, fine," she said. "I'll go to the ceremony."

* * *

Kia Min waved off Darting Lynx's help for a disguise; she knew exactly what she had to do to make the Lotus Assassins recognizing her difficult. She already had a change in outfit, and though she had little love for the idea she decided to keep her bamboo staff in Dr. An's office. At the very least, she had some knowledge of hand-to-hand combat. For the final touch, Kia Min lifted her heavy hands to the buns on her head and let them down.

As she strung her hands through the strands and tied them back into one bun at the nape of her neck, she thought about how those many buns had made her so noticeable in Two Rivers from the day she arrived. Her mother wore her hair like that in order to attract customers, so others in One Stone could easily point at the Kia stand for quality goods. Kia Min arrived at Two Rivers with that same hairstyle as a reminder of home. And now... _gone_.

One Stone was not home anymore. One Stone had not been home for some time now, and Two Rivers had quickly replaced it. Yes, she had her beloved father and mother and brother in One Stone, but in Two Rivers she had a multitude of friends, mentors, teachers, a future, and Ni Joh. Two Rivers was home.

She could not pin her hair up like that ever again.

Kia Min sighed. Dr. An had already left, and Darting Lynx was waiting for her at the door. Kia Min pursed her lips at the sight of the acrobat. What happened with the farmers was not her fault, Kia Min knew, but nonetheless she pushed right past Darting Lynx and headed for the crowd of people all drifting in the same direction towards wherever it was Empress Sun Lian would make her announcement.

* * *

The square of what Kia Min quickly learned was the Market District was packed with people standing shoulder to shoulder, with children having difficulty squeezing past legs to get as close as they could to the staircase leading to where a handful of Imperial guards stood to keep the commoners away from the Heavenly Lily. The empress herself was not yet before her people.

Kia Min glanced around, and she recognized no one around her. She would never find Wu in this mess. Darting Lynx as well was lost behind her somewhere, and Kia Min had little interest in discovering where. She sighed. This was a mistake.

The doors at the top of the stairs slowly swung open, and all Kia Min saw was a splash of yellow before she joined the others in bowing solemnly before their sovereign. Her heart pounded; why was she so excited? Perhaps this was the true power of royalty.

"My people," Empress Sun Lian began, "today begins a new era in the Jade Empire. My uncle, Sun Li the Glorious Strategist, is dead. Once again there will be free travel throughout the empire, but that is not the only change that is brought before us today.

"You deserve to know the truth about what has been happening at the very heart of our beloved empire, and I will share that knowledge with you today. Twenty years ago, the Long Drought ended, but it should not have. My father, the late Emperor Sun Hai, stepped beyond his station to bring that tragic chapter of the Jade Empire to a premature end. The ghost stories you have heard from the far reaches of the empire are all true, and they are all the result of my father's actions.

"The heavens were challenged, and there was only one who could make things right. She was known as the Scourge of the South by the Lotus Assassins, and she rose to fame in the Imperial Arena as Silver Phoenix. She challenged Sun Hai, and she won, only to be cut down by her master, the Glorious Strategist, alive and well, hiding until the right moment to take the throne away from his brother.

"But the heavens would not hear of it, and she came back to challenge Sun Li, who, in his brief reign, fared no better than Sun Hai. He used the same corrupt methods as my father, the same corrupt henchmen, and he stepped further beyond his station than Sun Hai ever did.

"And so she prevailed, and balance has been restored to the Jade Empire, though there is still much work to be done. My people, I stand before you to promise you that this empire will be rebuilt the right way, without resorting to rebelling against the gods, while maintaining harmony throughout the land. Death's Hand is no more. The Lotus Assassins will be disbanded, and the Lotus Monks shall return in their place as peaceful, spiritual guardians of the Jade Empire.

"Now I present to you, my people, the hero of the Jade Empire, the last Spirit Monk, and her followers. Let her name resound throughout the land and throughout our history. Long live Wu the Lotus Blossom!"

Kia Min froze as cheers and hollers erupted around her.

Wu?

Slowly she lifted her head, and the celebratory arms of the people flailing in front of her only let her catch sight of others in the party. There stood a large man with bloodied axes dutifully at his side, a man in blue gazing at the center of the stage with a proud, charming, and glowing smile. And then another arm waved, and she saw the other side, and there was Dawn Star.

Kia Min stopped breathing.

And then, finally, she could see all who stood before the masses, and in the center, at long last, was indeed Wu the Lotus Blossom.


	19. Heart of the Empire Tavern

By nightfall, Kia Min and Darting Lynx found themselves at the Heart of the Empire Tavern in the Imperial Arena.

They had stopped back at Dr. An's place first, where the acupuncturist was already present and getting ready for work. "There will be celebrations all over the Imperial City, and the Imperial Arena is always the most chaotic," she said. "The owners rely on me to treat wounded drunkards, especially when those wounded drunkards are arena fighters."

She extended an invitation for them to follow her there, to which Darting Lynx agreed so that she can start performing again. They had no need to worry about Lotus Assassins anymore. Kia Min was at first hesitant. Yes, she had planned on going to the promoter to call upon Wu at the arena, but was any of that really necessary anymore? Wu was a hero, just like Master Li had always planned for her to be.

Master Li. The empress's words came back to Kia Min. "She won, only to be cut down by her master, the Glorious Strategist..."

What did that mean?

And yet, Dr. An convinced Kia Min with, "Your friend may be busy in the palace tonight, but at the very least, you can try to establish a sort of reputation among the arena contestants. Perhaps she will come to you and call upon you if she heard you were there."

Perhaps, Kia Min had agreed, and she followed quietly behind Dr. An and Darting Lynx on the short trek to the arena. Though she had to wonder-would Wu come to her if she heard that Kia Min was alive and well and in the Imperial City? Would Dawn Star? Was there any purpose of trying to reunite with the senior student, in the end? No matter the work there was left to be done in the Jade Empire, the fighting was over. Wu's role in saving the Jade Empire was over. That meant Kia Min's role was over as well, and before she could even figure out what her role was supposed to be in everything.

Dr. An vanished into the arena to begin her work, and Darting Lynx found a corner in the tavern and cleared the way so she could begin her acrobatics. Some of the customers had rounded up around her, while others had continued their drink and song and gambling and slimy laughter. Kia Min sat at the bar with her wine, glaring at the drunks who made a pass at her, gripping her bamboo staff as a warning.

As she sipped her wine, she replayed the empress's speech in her head. Wu was cut down by her master, who was the Glorious Strategist? Master Li? Master Li was Sun Li, who had become emperor briefly, who had betrayed Wu and betrayed his own brother and his own niece. And now he was dead, killed by his very own protégé, and with his death, the Jade Empire was saved.

This made no sense. Master Li was the late Emperor Sun Hai's brother? Empress Sun Lian's uncle? He was royalty, in hiding in Two Rivers? Was that why that sorcerer-that Lotus Assassin-had shown up with the bandits, and why Master Li had so easily defeated him? Was that why an entire army of Lotus Assassins swept through Two Rivers, killing anybody in their paths, and took him away? That was why just he was taken prisoner, and not the rest of the village?

What crime had he committed that warranted all of Two Rivers to be destroyed? And why would he have killed Wu? For killing his brother, the emperor? But from the empress's speech, there was no fraternal love in the Sun family. He had stolen the throne from his brother, Sun Lian had said.

So what had Master Li been doing in Two Rivers? And was this the grand destiny he had foreseen in Wu?

A Spirit Monk. Wu was a Spirit Monk, whatever that was.

Kia Min sighed and took another sip of her wine. Empress Sun Lian had not given her people the entire truth. This helped Kia Min little; she was confused more than ever now.

So what was she doing in the Imperial City now, in the long run? What had brought her from Two Rivers to Hehua, from One Stone to Tien's Landing, from Golden River to the Heart of the Empire Tavern? Wu had not needed her. The Lotus Assassins were disbanded. That meant that slavery was all but abolished. Kia Min had managed to save Hehua, yes, but the farmers in the hangar would have been better off without her meddling.

She hung her head. She should not have come.

"Hey!" Darting Lynx's voice cried out. "This is a look, don't touch show!"

Kia Min glanced up and saw a couple of men reaching for Darting Lynx with disgusting grins and drunken slobber. Darting Lynx kept backing up into the corner she had set aside for herself, looking wildly around for any sort of escape. Kia Min made a face; had Darting Lynx never encountered such problems before? Surely this must be some sort of show to garner sympathy from others to get more money. With the speed and balance techniques she taught Kia Min, Darting Lynx surely could not be that helpless.

And yet, Darting Lynx had said herself that she was a street performer. Streets were more open to quick escapes than a tavern. Was this the first time Darting Lynx performed in an enclosed space such as this?

Oh, what had the acrobat gotten herself into?

Kia Min rolled her eyes, grabbed her staff, and left the bar. Darting Lynx could not even handle this bunch? She tapped the shoulder of the man closest to Darting Lynx's chest, and he turned around, annoyed at first, but his glazed eyes brightened at the sight of Kia Min.

"Well, well, well," he slurred, "seems like I'm getting this wench all jealous-"

The staff, Kia Min decided, was superfluous. So instead she threw a fist to the man's face. He rolled to the floor, and the loud snickers around her silenced as she narrowed her eyes at the men surrounding her. Darting Lynx stared at the man first, and then at Kia Min, her mouth agape.

"You..." she began, but there was a shout behind Kia Min and Kia Min quickly spun and ducked from an oncoming punch. She jabbed at the man's gut, and he fell face-first to the floor of the tavern, and Kia Min found herself surrounded by men with fists and broken wine bottles, and some clumsily wielding swords.

Kia Min shook her head, but she felt a smirk tug at the corners of her mouth. "Please," she murmured, and she let the men come at her from all sides. With one wide spin of her staff, she sent many of them flying back, with only a handful of them able to stagger back to their feet.

Those that attacked next received a swift kick or swing of her staff to their heads, torsos, and feet, and a few others received a backhanded fist to their cheeks and necks. Kia Min did not count how many came at her, and how many retaliated, but she thanked the wine in her that she did not feel her wounds from the Lotus Assassins' swords from a few days ago and she thanked the wine in her that she was beginning to feel a little better.

At one point Kia Min noticed Darting Lynx inching away from her corner with a small bag of silver in hand, but the acrobat seemed unwilling to leave and unsure whether to be amused or horrified at the sight before her.

Finally, Kia Min felt a hand on her arm and an urgent Darting Lynx whispered, "Come on, let's get out of here."

Kia Min glared at her. "I don't need to run." She thrust an elbow into the chest of a man behind her. That should prove her point. This was not a life or death situation this time.

"No, but you need to stop. You're going overboard. Let's _go_."

Darting Lynx tugged her arm, and Kia Min sighed and followed the acrobat out of the tavern. She glanced behind to make sure none of the drunkards would try anything or say anything about her fleeing, but instead she saw a man in blue walking in between her and the drunkards. "Come, let me buy you all a drink," she heard him say. He looked over his shoulder at her and grinned, but Kia Min could not interpret the look before she found herself stumbling down the stairs to the main lobby of the arena.

At the bottom of the stairs, Darting Lynx spun and said with an exasperated sigh, "What were you thinking back there? I appreciate the help, but getting into an all out brawl? Don't you think that was overkill?"

Kia Min shrugged and pushed past Darting Lynx. "No," she said, and she headed for the door.

"Kia Min," said Darting Lynx, and Kia Min knew that she was following her, "I understand you must be... upset, or confused. But that doesn't mean you can take it out on a handful of drunkards who would not have even had a chance against you sober."

Kia Min did not stop as she left the arena and headed across the bridge towards Dr. An's home. "And what would you have preferred I do?"

Darting Lynx hesitated. "I'm not entirely sure what you mean."

"Of course you don't," said Kia Min, and she stopped and turned to face Darting Lynx. "I don't know why I'm here, Lynx. Maybe if those farmers hadn't died, or maybe if I had died, even... but that's not all. There's something else going on, something else that happened that Empress Sun Lian didn't share with us, but something I feel like I need to know. And the thing is, I'm not sure if my knowing about it would change anything. I survived, Lynx. Three times now, when I should have died, I survived. All against Lotus Assassins, and all leading to something I thought I was supposed to live for. But what is that?"

"Kia Min," said Darting Lynx with a sigh, "of course there's something else going on. But I can't help you more than I have already. You've helped me plenty in return. I don't know what I can tell you that I haven't told you already."

Kia Min shook her head. "No. Everything you've told me already, I don't want to hear. Not again. I'm sick of it. I want answers. I want to know why I'm alive."

Darting Lynx offered a small, hesitant smile. "Oh, Kia Min. Isn't that the question everyone asks? And isn't that the question that only a small handful of people ever get answered? I've been telling you things like fate and destiny, and how the heavens have been looking out for you-and they have been! But also understand that sometimes you won't even know your purpose until you're on your deathbed, looking back on your entire life, and knowing what a difference you made was, and why the gods thought it best to keep you alive. It could even be that it just wasn't your time."

"And it was the people of Two Rivers' time?" asked Kia Min. "The farmers in the hangar, too?"

Darting Lynx said nothing for a moment, but Kia Min waited. A few moments of silence passed, and then Darting Lynx said softly, "Maybe. For whatever reason, for the bigger picture, maybe it had been a necessity."

"If that's the case," said Kia Min, "then the heavens are arrogant."

"Are they? Or are we arrogant for thinking our lives are that significant?" asked Darting Lynx. "Just be patient, Kia Min. Your answers will come. It has so far. There's no reason to expect otherwise."

"And what do I do in the meantime?"

Darting Lynx smiled. "I guess this is as good as time as any to come to terms with your past, don't you think? Maybe that's all that's getting in the way of knowing your path."


	20. The Black Leopard School

Over the next few days, the celebrations throughout the Imperial City simmered, though the only difference Kia Min saw was a decrease in lanterns and men and women drinking during daylight hours. She continued to dodge stray folk as she made her way through the streets, and the street performers and beggars continued to ask her for silver, and her staff continued to be in an easy reach in case some street urchin dared to pick her pockets again or a drunken idiot dared to make a pass at her.

The Imperial City was something else, that was for certain.

Darting Lynx had been one of the street performers begging for silver during the celebrations, but once everyone settled back into their daily routines, Darting Lynx packed up her belongings, set some silver on Dr. An's desk, and left the city. Kia Min had caught her on her way out, and Darting Lynx simply shrugged and said, "City folk are as stingy and less impressed as I remembered. It's time to move on."

They stared at each other for a few moments, and Kia Min could not decide if the hesitation was on Darting Lynx's part or her own. Finally, they nodded to each other, and Darting Lynx disappeared through the doorway.

With Dr. An at the arena, Kia Min took to wandering the streets of the Imperial City. During the celebrations, Kia Min had not explored the city, deciding instead to keep to herself either in Dr. An's home or near Darting Lynx's performance space. The streets had limited movement, and fighting past people just to go to other areas of the city that Dr. An had suggested she see appealed to Kia Min little. Now that Kia Min had some semblance of mobility again, she decided that now was as good a time as any to see some of the sights that Wen had once fondly spoken of.

Wen...

Kia Min stopped in front of the entrance to the Black Leopard School. The gates were visible from Dr. An's apartment and Kia Min often caught herself blankly staring towards the school. She had forced herself away from the windows during those times and settled into her meditations to calm and soothe and regain her focus. Now she stood before the gates, and she knew not what to think or how to feel. All she knew was that she wanted to visit the school.

She climbed the white marble stairs up to the school, counting with each step. Twenty one flight, twenty the next. The large wooden gates were wide open, and within Kia Min saw men in blue robes and yellow sashes sparring with one another, and one large building as tall as the Imperial Arena in the center. To the left was a small, modest stone garden where more students kneeled or posed in meditation. The Black Leopard School was truly much, much different than the relaxed and friendly Two Rivers School, though the focus and the intensity differed none.

So this was the school Wen had left for Two Rivers. Despite everything, Kia Min could not help but feel that Wen's mother had made the right decision.

Oh, his mother! Someone had to tell her what happened. She deserved to know. Lin's family had all but disowned her, and Jing Woo had been an orphan, but Wen had family. He had loved ones he left behind much like Kia Min had, and the last thing Kia Min knew her mother would have wanted was to find out about her daughter's death through traveling bards regaling the tale of the hero of the Jade Empire. Wen's mother deserved the same.

Now Kia Min knew why she was here. She needed to find out where Wen's family lived and deliver the news before the people of the Jade Empire discovered Wu the Lotus Blossom's origins.

"Excuse me, miss, but can I help you?"

Kia Min turned to see a man-young, but no less than five or ten years her senior-beside her, wearing robes different than the others in the school. Earthly tones, and extravagantly simple. The master? Or one of them, perhaps. She thought she remembered something about the Black Leopard School having two masters. She just always pegged them as being much, much older.

"Uh, yes," said Kia Min. "I was just wondering... perhaps you would remember a student who used to attend here? Maybe a year or so ago, I don't really know, but... he was here, and then his mother sent him to another school?"

The man sighed, but smiled. "That's sadly the story of a few of our students from the past couple of years. Not enough to have tarnished the reputation of this school, but enough to cause alarm to those of us who cared to notice. Luckily, the circumstances that caused those transfers have been taken care of."

Kia Min hoped she wasn't reaching a dead end. "But perhaps you know this one. His name was Wen, and his mother sent him to a school far away from the Imperial City, out on the borderlands-"

A look of recognition crossed the man's face, and his face brightened. "Two Rivers?"

Kia Min tried not to sound too surprised when she said, "Yes."

"Yes, Wen, I remember him," said the man. "Do you know him?"

Kia Min nodded and found her fingers drumming her bamboo staff nervously. "Yes. I... I went to school with him in Two Rivers."

"How is he?"

She hesitated, and then said slowly, "He's... dead." The man's smile quickly vanished, and his eyes widened and his jaw fell. "I'm here to find out where his mother lives, so I can tell her, instead of having her find out by... other ways."

"Dead?" he asked. "Dead... how?"

Kia Min closed her eyes, sighed, and opened her eyes again. "Two Rivers was attacked by Lotus Assassins. Only a small handful of us survived. Wen wasn't among them. I'm really sorry."

"Dead," he said again as he turned from her. "Dead. He was... he was one of our most promising students. Master Radiant was thoroughly disappointed when his mother pulled him out of the school. It was for his own good, what with some of the turmoil between the two masters at the time, but you just hate to see that kind of talent walk away from you."

Kia Min offered a small, consoling grin. "He did catch on to our master's style pretty quickly." It was no lie; Wen had paled in comparison to Wu and Dawn Star and Gao, but if he had another year or two at the school, he could have rivaled Lin or even Jing Woo.

"So he would have," said the man, and then he turned back to her. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. I... I saw Wen as a younger brother the short time he was here. Master Radiant had even asked me to mentor the lad. My name is Kai, and I'm the new master of the Black Leopard School with the deaths of Master Radiant and Master Smiling Hawk. While Wen was here, I was known as First Brother Kai."

The name rang familiar. "Wen mentioned you," said Kia Min, though she was unsure if he did. "He spoke of you fondly." She felt as though she needed to comfort the man somehow, even if through lies.

Kai smiled. "Thank you," he said. "I know where his mother lives, yes, if you would like to know. She should hear it from you, rather than from a returned letter with the messenger telling her the news third or fourth hand. You know how the truth gets muddied if passed down through too many mouths."

"Thank you."

He nodded, and he motioned for her to follow him as he headed for the building in the center of the school. "Now tell me something. I get the feeling you didn't come all the way to the Imperial City to deliver this message. What brings you to the heart of the Empire?"

Kia Min cringed. "I... honestly don't know. I thought I knew, but I don't anymore."

"Well then, why did you think you came to the Imperial City, if you don't mind my asking."

"I..." Kia Min started. To follow Wu to help her pursue her great destiny that she already accomplished? That sounded foolish. So did anything else that popped into her head. Finally, she settled on, "I guess I'm here to figure out what to do next with my future. I never really thought about it before, but... I don't have much of anything else right now. I could return home to One Stone, but I'd feel like I'm leaving behind too much unfinished business. The problem is, I don't know what unfinished business I'd be leaving behind."

That was dreadfully more open and honest than Kia Min wanted to be to a man she barely knew.

"I see," said Kai, as though he was curious to learn more but felt he already imposed too much. They had entered a room on the first level, extravagantly simple, just like Kai. Kia Min decided this must be his room. "I guess the Imperial City is as good a place as any to figure it out, I suppose. Do you have any idea what you want to do in the meantime?"

She shook her head as Kai rummaged through some scrolls on the bookshelf. "I haven't given that much thought, either. I just knew I had to come to the Imperial City, and once I got here, well, the empress became the empress and the Imperial City was... well..."

"Chaotic?" Kai offered with a smile. He opened up a scroll and carefully scanned through it.

Kia Min offered a polite laugh. "Yes."

"That's understandable. I had a hard time keeping the students here in line throughout those ceremonies. A few of them even got into some trouble at the arena. It's not an uncommon occurrence, unfortunately, especially after Master Smiling Hawk's brief reign, but it was more severe and more students at once than the school is used to seeing. And here it is. Wen's mother lives in the Golden Way, near the Scholars' Garden. And please, offer her my condolences."

Kia Min nodded and bowed. "I will. And again, I'm sorry."

"There was nothing you could have done," said Kai. "The Lotus Assassins were formidable opponents. The fact that you survived... either you have miraculous luck or amazing skill. Either way..." He trailed off, tilted his head in curious contemplation, and then shook his head. "Well, I suppose if you wanted something to do, I'd like to see your skill in combat someday. If you don't mind."

"My fighting days may be over," said Kia Min softly. She saw no more purpose in fighting, unless she joined the ranks of the arena fighters. She was unsure if that was something she wanted to do; that had been Jing Woo's goal, not hers.

"Nonetheless, I do want to see Two Rivers' style. You may be the only chance I have to see it."

Kia Min shrugged. "Well, if Wu the Lotus Blossom ever comes around, you could ask her. She is one of the survivors."

"Wu?" Kai sounded surprised and pleased. "The hero of the Jade Empire, the champion of the arena? She had come around the Black Leopard School earlier this month. That was the style? Most impressive!"

"She's better at it than me," said Kia Min. "She was the top student. I'd only ever broken one of her records once, briefly."

"But you did break it. You must be as good as her."

"I wish I were. She survived Two Rivers by skill. More and more, I'm convinced I survived by luck."

Kai smiled. "Now that you tell me about Wu, I doubt that you survived by luck. There's something to that style... and for you to have outmatched her once is enough to tell me. I would like to see you back at the school again. Please tell me you'll be back."

"I'll... try," said Kia Min, and somehow, she knew she would be, and soon.


	21. The Guild

As Kia Min left the Black Leopard School, she thought about the other students at Two Rivers School. She knew Jing Woo, and Wen, and Lin, and of course Wu and Dawn Star and Gao. But there were many others. Si Pat, who had just started at the school, where was he from? What family did he have, who may never know the fate of their son, or who would find out in worse ways than Wen's family was about to? The empress had not revealed the hometown of the Jade Empire's hero, but bards would find out quickly enough. Would it be through song that Si Pat's family will learn about his death?

The people of Two Rivers died alongside their families in the attack, but most of the students were not native to Two Rivers, and not all of them were orphaned or disowned. Many of them left parents and siblings behind. How would they find out, if they ever did? Did any of them already know?

Kia Min sighed as she made her way down the crowded streets of the Market District. This conversation had been hard enough when she told of her own survival to her brother and father. To tell of a son's death to his mother? How and why Kia Min survived and he did not?

And, oh, the farmers! Surely they had been forced away from loved ones as well. Kia Min did not know where those farmers had been from.

This was the state of the Jade Empire, she realized. So many tragedies had occurred, and perhaps were still occurring, and the empress surely could not be privy to it all. Yes, the Lotus Assassins were disbanded, but did that necessarily mean that slaves were freed? Did that necessarily mean that slavers were also disbanded?

Kia Min felt a bump on her shoulder and scowled. The Imperial City was too crowded for her tastes. One Stone was a much happier medium between this and a sleepy town like Two Rivers had been. She glanced over her shoulder to see a man in blue retreat from her, and an odd feeling sunk into her gut.

Her hand flew to her side, and she found that her coin purse was absent from her belt. She rolled her eyes. That man could not possibly be serious.

With her bamboo staff in hand, she pushed through the crowd after the man, keeping her eyes glued to his retreating back. He glanced over his shoulder back at her, grinned, and maneuvered around the crowd smoother and faster. Kia Min picked up her pace; only children pulled this kind of tactic to get some silver. Grown men had a tendency to be stealthier and more deceitful. They would not use a child's method to outsmart an armed woman.

She shoved some people off to the side, and some called angrily after her, and others moved out of the way as they saw her coming. One benefit, she knew, to a large city was that she was unlikely to see any of these people again; she felt less guilty for her lack of remorse for her rudeness.

That silver was hard earned and _hers_.

The man took a sharp turn into an alleyway, and Kia Min knew she had him. She leaped over a crate and slid into the dimmed backstreet, and she swung her staff at the man's feet. He jumped and rolled away from her, and she thrust the staff as he hung mid-air. The man fell to the ground, and she pointed the tip of her staff at his throat and narrowed her eyes.

"Give it back," she said.

The man smirked. "What's it to you?" he challenged.

Impetuous like a child. What game was he playing? "I've killed men in this exact position before," she said. "Don't think I won't do it again."

"So why won't you, now?"

Kia Min snarled, "You _want_ me to kill you?"

"No," said the man. "But I also know that you won't anyway. You don't seem the type to kill over petty things like a poor pickpocket."

She snorted. "True. I've seen children do this better. But I'm not letting you up until you've given me back my coin purse. And I'm not patient enough to stand here all day. Give it back, or you _will_ pay."

"I doubt it," said the man with a laugh. He tossed her the small bag, and she caught it with one hand, leaving her other on her staff and at his throat. "But I do like how you're not willing to trust me so easily."

"Trust? You have to be joking. Since when did trust become an issue here?"

"Tell me something. If I had been a slaver who had taken away something more precious than a coin purse, what would you have done?"

Kia Min froze. This man did look familiar to her, but she doubted that he had been in Hehua. He could not possibly have been from Hehua. What did he want from her?

She clasped her coin purse back onto her belt, and she gripped her staff with two hands and pressed the tip harder against his throat. "What are you suggesting?" she growled.

His mischievous grin did not fade. This irritated Kia Min. "Would you have killed me?"

"Do you know me?"

The man shrugged. "I've seen you once or twice before, yes. Your skill against those drunks in the tavern a few days ago was impressive. You prefer your staff, I noticed, but you fought them easily with your fists. You would obviously fare well in the Imperial Arena if you so wanted to."

The tavern? Drunks? The last image she had of the Heart of the Empire Tavern came back to her. As Darting Lynx dragged her away, there had been a man offering to buy everyone a drink. A man who had given her a strange look as she left, who, now that she remembered Empress Sun Lian's address, had been among the few upon the stage who honored Wu the Lotus Blossom.

Kia Min removed her staff from his throat and her foot from his chest. As he climbed to his feet, she asked, "What do you want?"

"What I want... well, I'm interested in you. Where you're from, what you're doing in the Imperial City. You're skilled, but you didn't join the Lotus Assassins, when they could have-should have-recruited you for your talents. They were fools not to, really. And you're obviously not from the Imperial City. You're... different than the city folk. I'm curious."

Kia Min narrowed her eyes. "Why do you want to know all of this?"

The man smiled. "There's no pulling one over you, is there? All the better. I guess the other stuff is unimportant. You're a very talented warrior drunk, you're clever, and nothing gets past you. I'm curious about where your morals are, but I can tell you're a good person. That's enough."

He was not getting to the point; Kia Min's patience was running thin. "What do you want?" she asked again.

"My name is Sky," he said. "And I've taken up an interesting opportunity that would benefit the Jade Empire. Have you ever heard of the Guild?"

"The Guild?"

"A crime syndicate. Their leader, Gao the Greater, was killed some time ago. New leadership is needed, and I've taken that role. But the Guild needs revamping. They've done some horrible things under Gao, and I'm taking over to rectify these wrongs. The best thing about the Guild and its reputation: I can do this my way, and not the way that Silk-the empress would prefer."

Gao's father ran the Guild? That was where he acquired his undeserved riches! No wonder Gao the Lesser was so wretched. "Who killed him?" asked Kia Min, though she had a feeling she already knew.

"Wu did," said Sky, his voice suddenly affectionate. "Though I wish I'd beaten her there-she did. She had her own score to settle, and Gao the Greater was only the first step."

So Wu had been on a journey towards revenge after all. Still, the way Sky's voice changed as he spoke of the senior student-no, the hero of the Jade Empire, now-caught Kia Min by surprise. Nonetheless...

"And he was in charge of the Guild," said Kia Min. "What did the Guild do?"

"They worked for the Lotus Assassins," said Sky, his voice morphing into bitter spite, "and they sold them slaves. Innocent people were kidnapped for their homes, and many of them died. Yes, the empress disbanded the Lotus Assassins, but that's not going to stop slavers-or the Guild-from continuing to enslave others. The Guild consisted of _criminals_. And I thoroughly believe that the troubles are just beginning."

Understanding dawned on Kia Min, and everything she had encountered the past few weeks fell into place. "So you're going to use the Guild to end slavers?"

Sky nodded. "It's the most effective way. If we waited for the Imperial Army, well, we can't wait for the Imperial Army. By the time they got to the far reaches of the empire... it's too long. By taking control of the Guild, we can end slavers, and we can save lives much faster, and before anymore lives can be ruined. But it's not going to be easy. And this is where you come in.

"You're talented and cunning, and you seem like a good person. I need people like you to help me restructure the Guild so we can weed out the undesirables. And I don't even care how ruthless you are. I will be hard-pressed not to kill slavers on the spot myself."

Yao Hong. The customer. Little Qing and Wayfarer Wei... the farmers in the flyer... the long journey to the Imperial City...

This was too convenient.

"You're asking me to become some sort of vigilante, aren't you?" asked Kia Min slowly. "That's why you tricked me into the alleyway, that's why you're asking me here, isn't it?"

Sky nodded. "We will not be bogged down by bureaucracy or laws or Imperial orders. We will do things our way. A lot of what we do may be illegal, but the ends justify the means. The people of the Jade Empire will no longer have to fear slavers. And those who are enslaved will go home, where they belong."

"And... what about Wu?" asked Kia Min. "You know her?"

Sky seemed taken aback by the question, but he smiled. "She has her reputation to protect now. Not for herself, but for the better of the whole of the Jade Empire. Saving the empire and becoming a criminal? That's not her. That can't be her. All the same, I cannot risk my identity and my involvement with the Guild to be known. I'm too closely associated-she cannot risk it."

"So why do it?"

"Because it's the right thing to do. She's found her peace, and it's time for me to find mine. I guess you can say that it's personal for me, and it's not so much for her, though she protests my decision not to include her."

Kia Min smiled. Wu would. Now Kia Min understood Sky a little more, and now she understood Wu the Lotus Blossom a little more. Wu came to terms with her past; there was no need for Kia Min to show up in her life again. Kia Min had a new opportunity in front of her, and she knew what she had to do.

"If I join you," said Kia Min, "if I join the Guild, you cannot tell Wu about me."

Sky frowned. "You speak of her with great familiarity."

Kia Min closed her eyes and sighed. "I do know her. And that is why you cannot tell her about me, and that is why my identity and role in the Guild must also be kept a secret. We were not especially close, but my association with her... the people of the Jade Empire cannot know, and so, she cannot know about me."

"Why?"

"I..." She took a deep breath. "I am a survivor of Two Rivers. The only other one besides Wu and Dawn Star. I went to school with them."

Sky was silent for a moment. "She should know about you."

"If you tell her, I cannot join you. I will not join you. She doesn't need to know about me."

"I can't keep this from her."

"Then I won't join you."

"But why? This would bring her much needed joy and happiness. Her and Dawn Star both."

"Would it? Look, Sky, please understand, the way I see it, I can either return to Wu's life and remind her of the life that was ripped away from her, or I can join you and help you do some good for the Jade Empire. From the way you describe the Guild, it's better that she thinks I'm dead, don't you think?"

Sky frowned, and Kia Min sighed and continued. "Sky, let me tell you my story. Then I'll let you decide if I truly am a good candidate to join the Guild."


	22. Epilogue

In all the years that Kia Min had access to flyers and all reaches of the Jade Empire, she never returned to Two Rivers. She wished she could tell herself that it had never crossed her mind, but after Wen's memorial service at the Black Leopard School she thought she ought to. The proper time had passed, and the people of Two Rivers deserved burials.

She wished she could tell herself that she was always too preoccupied to make it to Two Rivers to do it herself; she wished she could tell herself that she wanted to be with Wu and Dawn Star when she did it.

However, before Sky stepped down as the leader of the Guild, he made one last request of Kia Min before letting her take over. "You should return to Two Rivers," he said, "and pay your respects to your fallen friends. You haven't done that yet, have you?"

Kia Min was surprised, and she asked how he knew, and she asked why he asked this of her, but he only smiled and told her that he would introduce her to Empress Sun Lian when she returned. After the meeting in the Imperial Palace, she returned to her flyer where the pilot already knew his orders.

What on earth did Sky intend for her?

The pilot landed the flyer on the beach, and Kia Min grabbed the same bamboo staff she held with her over the years, the same bamboo staff that Weapon Master Gujin had given her upon recommendation from Smiling Mountain to enhance her training. She had learned Master Li's technique with this staff, broken the senior student's record with this staff, and saved her own life with this staff. She had freed Hehua from slavers-she had helped save the Jade Empire from slavers. She had killed Lotus Assassins, rogue ex-Guilders, and beaten bloody a few petty criminals.

Her brother still owed her a staff made of metal, and yet, Kia Min was unwilling to take her hands off her bamboo staff. This was part of her reputation now, after all. Perhaps when she stepped down from the Guild and put someone else in charge, and she could safely see her mother and brother again. The last time she had was at her father's funeral, but she had stayed hidden; they had not seen her. She could not let them.

"This is unlike you, Min," called the pilot over his shoulder. "You've never hesitated like this on an order from the Guild Leader before."

Kia Min flashed him a sheepish smile and climbed out of the flyer. "I'll be back soon," she said.

"Take your time. I'll be here when you get back."

Kia Min frowned as she closed the door behind her, wondering just how much Sky told the pilot about this 'mission' he had given her. She did not linger to ask. She was back in Two Rivers now, for the first time since the Lotus Assassins and Gao's mercenaries stormed through with black fists and steel swords. She had to face her past at long last.

She scanned the beach, seeing the statue of Sun Hai still standing tall and proud. A small stone now stood by its side, and a peony grew in front of that stone. A familiar broom lied in between the grave and the statue. Someone had come through already, she realized, and buried the villagers. Who?

The splinters of wood and the scraps of metal no longer littered the hillsides, which were now green and lush with no hints of ash and fire. Either the wood and the metal had been carried off by bandits who had the heart to bury the villagers, after stripping them of their valuables of course, or many someones had come to the village to properly memorialize the town.

The people of Hehua? Or perhaps the empress had this done by request of the Hero of the Jade Empire. Kia Min felt she knew the answer-who else would have known Old Ming's undying devotion to the late Sun Hai?

That meant that Wu and Dawn Star had both been back; that explained the flower as well. Dawn Star had been fond of peonies. Kia Min found herself wishing that Sky had told her about this, despite her requests that he kept her survival a secret from the other two. She could have remained hidden like she had in One Stone at her father's funeral.

Kia Min made her way through towards the town square, where the fallen stone pillars that had blocked the stairs up to the farmlands and Gujin's workshop before had been removed, and like the beach, there were no traces of broken and burned flyers or broken and burned bodies. The only hints to the tragedy that had befallen Two Rivers were in the collapsed buildings and bloodstained stone. Yes, the empress must have done this. No number of bandits would have taken this much care, and a broken down village such as Hehua would not have had the manpower.

Oh, why had Sky kept this from her? Kia Min could have avoided Wu and Dawn Star both, and Sky knew it.

Kia Min turned her gaze up the stairs, and she knew that the villagers and farmers were buried up there somewhere. Ni Joh was up there somewhere. She took in a deep breath, exhaled, and promised herself to visit him on her way out. She was not ready yet. And so, she made her way through the school gates.

Dawn Star's garden flourished with pink peonies and white narcissuses and violet orchids. Kia Min smiled. Yes, Dawn Star must have been here. She counted the narcissuses, remembering what Dawn Star had told her once about them.

"I plant one for each student," she had said. "It's to help bestow each student's hidden and best talents."

Three were missing. Sky had not kept his promise after all. In spite of herself, Kia Min laughed. She should have suspected that he would not have, in the end. Instead, there were three orchids. "For prosperity and longevity," Dawn Star had said. She often planted those for newborns in the village. Now the orchids were for the survivors.

Kia Min continued through the school, the hills green with no trace of crashed flyers, the student houses still fallen and covered with ash, and the wooden gate into the main area of the school still burnt away. She stopped beneath the still standing stone frame of the gate and surveyed the school within, though she barely looked past the center where the sparring ring once was. There her classmates were buried, and in the center knelt Wu the Lotus Blossom, alone and silent and wearing the same plum garments Kia Min remembered and the Jade Empire knew her for.

Sky had not kept his promise and never had any intentions of hiding it. Now Kia Min understood why he had sent her to Two Rivers.

She hesitated. Surely this meeting must have been at Wu's request, but why had she waited so long? For the same reason Kia Min had asked Sky not to tell Wu about her?

Finally, Kia Min took slow steps towards the senior student, thinking of the many questions she wanted to ask, the many words she wanted to say, and all of them and none of them being what she wanted to know. Too many whys. Too many hows. She cared little for the truth about Master Li or for clearing up some of the more fantastical versions of Wu's story. She could live without knowing Wu's motivation in her journey, or why Kia Min had been left behind.

She did not need to see the Wu after all. Kia Min had found her life's calling by tracking down the senior student, but it was not for the senior student she had survived. Anything about this living legend was completely irrelevant to her anymore.

And yet, Kia Min realized as she stopped at Wu's side, she wanted to see her.

The gravestones in the sparring ring had the names of the students scrawled on them, and Kia Min was not surprised to see that the one Wu knelt in front of was none other than Jing Woo's. Of course. Other than Dawn Star, he had been the only other student to get close to Wu, to be the source of her smiles and laughter. Despite her marriage to Sky, Wu had to miss Jing Woo the most of all the people in Two Rivers. Was he on her mind as often as Ni Joh was on Kia Min's?

"Wu," said Kia Min softly.

Wu looked up at Kia Min and smiled. "Kia Min," she said. "It's good to finally see you again."

Kia Min nodded. "It's good to see you again, too."

"You're not mad at Sky, are you?" Her voice was saturated with the same humor she had often teased Jing Woo with. Kia Min nearly chuckled, though she was unsure if it was her amusement over Wu's husband's broken promise or the memory of a time long ago.

"No," she said, "it's my own fault for trusting him."

Wu laughed and climbed to her feet. "I'll let him know you said that."

"By all means."

For a moment, they grinned at each other, and Kia Min found her own struggle for words in Wu's eyes. Questions and answers, the past few years, the next few years, lost friends, lost loves, new friends and new loves... there was too much to say, and Kia Min knew they did not have the time. She had to return to the Imperial City and relieve Sky from his duties as Guild Leader; likewise, Wu probably had much to tend to herself.

"I'm glad to see you're well," said Wu finally.

"You too."

"I hear you're taking Sky's place in the Guild?" Kia Min nodded. "It relieves me to hear that the organization will be in good hands. Have you met the empress yet?"

"Sky said that he'd introduce me after I returned to the palace."

Wu snorted. "You're better off getting introduced by me. Sky claims that the reason why she won't sanction the Guild publicly is for her reputation. Truth is, Sky grinds on Lian's nerves and she doesn't stop her lords and ministers from attempting to arrest Guilders to irritate him."

Kia Min raised an eyebrow and held back laughter. Wu was indeed too familiar with the empress to speak of her as though she and Sky were nothing more than children. "That sounds like something that would encourage him more than irritate him."

"Exactly," said Wu, shaking her head. "But I suppose in the end, it worked out better this way. The Imperial Court would have made Sky jump through hoops to accomplish what he wanted if they knew that their empress approves of the what the Guild is doing. Ever since Zin Bu introduced me to bureaucracy I'm amazed anything ever gets done."

"That's why we have the Guild."

Wu nodded. "That's why we have the Guild, indeed. Lian even confided as much to me, once. She told me never to repeat it to Sky."

"And you didn't, right?"

"Of course not. He doesn't need more encouragement. And I know you won't abuse the empress's trust as he does."

Kia Min smiled. "I appreciate your vote of confidence. And Sky's. What are you two planning on doing now that he's retiring? He mentioned something about a son..."

Wu seemed shocked for a moment, but she lightened into a chuckle. "Oh, no, he was probably referring to the young prince. No, we have no children. I guess you could call it more a lack of interest on my part. I didn't preen in front of a mirror the past few years in the Imperial Palace, but Sky knew what he was getting into when he married me. No, Dawn Star is running her own school not too far from Tien's Landing now. I'm going to go help her. Maybe Sky, too." She laughed. "Maybe I should give him a child to keep him out of trouble."

"Sky accomplishes what he wants with the Guild, and he retires, without any other direction in his life?" asked Kia Min skeptically.

Wu shrugged. "He wants a family. I've been reluctant. That's a few months of my life, of my training I'd lose. Besides, I think it's time to tell you that I've been acting as an agent for the Guild for some time. Clandestinely, of course, and I also have no intentions of quitting."

Kia Min widened her eyes. "You've been... with the Guild? This whole time?"

"Well, ever since Sky took over. He wasn't happy about it, but he knew better than trying to change my mind. Like I said, I didn't preen in front of a mirror the past few years."

"So you're going to continue to work for the Guild and help Dawn Star with her school? At the same time? That seems... unnecessarily dangerous."

"It's just cleaning up the mess left behind, but if Dawn Star or her students were endangered..." Wu's face darkened. "I'd prevent it. I wouldn't let it happen. Not again. Not ever again."

Kia Min glanced around at the broken and burnt buildings of Two Rivers School around her, and the small mounds and slabs of stone beneath her. "We couldn't have prevented this, Wu. Nobody could have."

Wu turned to Kia Min angrily. "Yes, it could have been prevented. Not by you or me... none of this had to happen. And yet..." She closed her eyes. "I think about it over and over and there was no other way this could have happened. Not the way he wanted it to. The way I always envisioned it... I always intended to come back. Take his place. If he had been the man I thought he was... I'd have been back. With Jing Woo. And Dawn Star. Everything would have been alright."

Master Li, Kia Min realized. Over the years she had heard variations of the tale of the fall of Two Rivers, and most retellings boiled down to the Glorious Strategist's involvement. She never wanted to believe that he had been the reason everyone was dead, but she knew. It was the only version that made any sense.

"I don't know where I would have been," said Kia Min, but she thought of Ni Joh, and she knew exactly where she would have wound up. "But I'd imagine I would still be here, too. Maybe giving Fen Do a run for his money."

Wu chuckled. "It would have been a much simpler life than the ones we're living now."

"Yes, it would have. But," Kia Min could hardly believe the words she said until she said them, "this life isn't so bad, either. I miss everyone, but..." She smiled. "This is my calling. I have no regrets."

Wu smiled softly, and nodded. "Yes, I agree. Neither do I."


End file.
